Ruud Van Nistelrooy thinks he knows how to stop Barcelona's front three

Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored almost 400 goals in his playing career for club and country

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy said he knows the secret to stopping Messi, Neymar, and Suarez. While acknowledging the quality of Barcelona’s attacking trio, he said he had the answer for their opponents.

“I have found the secret to stop them and it could be good information for their opponents,” said Van Nistelrooy.

“I think the only way to stop Messi, Neymar and Suarez is to block the other eight players of the team. You must stop the passes coming into them.

“When Neymar, Suarez and Messi are functioning, Barcelona have the best attack in the world.”

On his playing days

The Dutch striker himself has been among some of the most potent attacking combinations in Europe. He discussed the best defence he played against and some of the best partnerships he formed during his playing days.

He said: “I played against so many good defenders in my career, the best I remember playing against were Milan's backline of Cafu, Jaap Stam, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and Dida. They were the strongest.

“The best partnership I had in attack was with Raul at Real Madrid or with Luc Nilis at PSV. Paul Scholes made be a better player and striker at Manchester United.”

On Paul Pogba

While he appreciated Paul Scholes, he also had something to say about the one that got away from Manchester United – Paul Pogba.

On his former club letting go of the now much sought after French midfielder, he said, “It is easy to say it was a mistake in hindsight.

“If you see the player that he has become, then obviously United should never have let him go, but when he left he was very young. A team makes its decisions and sometimes it can go the other way.”