Roma boss Rudi Garcia has insisted that his team will not just focus their attention on attempting to stop Barcelona's Lionel Messi in Wednesday's Champions League clash.
Barca, who won their fifth European Cup last season, will travel to Rome to take on the Italian runners-up in their Group E opener tomorrow evening.
Garcia has said that while Messi is a serious threat, the plan to stop the Catalan outfit involves the entire team and not just their dangers in the final third.
"There's no anti-Messi plan, just as there isn't one to stop Luis Suarez or Andres Iniesta," Garcia told reporters.
"You deal with that threat as a team, both in attack and defence. We don't plan on defending for the whole game. We know there will be times when we have to dig in but we also have to use the ball well to give the opposition a problem.
"We're running out of superlatives to describe Messi. He's one of - if not - the best in the world."
The last time that these two teams met in the group stages of the Champions League was back in 2002. The points were shared in a 1-1 draw in Spain, before Roma won 3-0 on their own patch.
Matt Law
