Danny Rose reveals how Tottenham tried to stop Lionel Messi during his 'best ever performance'

Danny Rose has admitted Lionel Messi's demolition of Tottenham in October 2018 was the best individual performance he's ever seen.

Tottenham were beaten 4-2 by Barcelona during the group stages of the 2018/19 Champions League group stage, with Messi grabbing a memorable brace at Wembley.

The Argentine had his fingerprints all over a resounding Barça performance, with the Blaugrana taking the lead early on and managing to outlast their hosts.

Speaking exclusively to 90min, ex-Spurs defender Rose revealed Mauricio Pochettino's instructions to try and stop Messi.

"I think I saw one as I saw the best individual performance ever from Messi at Wembley. He hit the post three times doing the exact same move," Rose said.

"Even before the game, the manager said, 'try your best, don't let him inside, if he comes inside he is going to do a certain type of ball, don't let him do this'. Two minutes in and he did it and it was easier said than done!"

Rose was an unused substitute that night, with Spurs fielding a back four of Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez and Ben Davies.

Tottenham went on to reach their first Champions League final that season, though fell to Liverpool at the Estadio Metropolitano.

The Reds reached the showpiece event after overturning a 3-0 deficit against Messi's Barcelona in the semi-finals.

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