Paris Saint-Germain will need a team effort to keep Lionel Messi in check in Wednesday's first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal with Barcelona, PSG coach Laurent Blanc has said.
Messi, 27, has been in remarkable form again this season, scoring 34 times in 31 La Liga outings for the Spanish top-flight leaders as well as finding the net eight times in as many Champions League games.
The Argentina international will likely be the main threat to PSG's ambitions of advancing to the semifinals for only the second time in the club's history, and Blanc told media his team need to work together to halt Messi.
He said: "I think Messi is one of the best players in the world. He's unstoppable when he can get up speed and heads off on a dribble. Man-marking him would be the best thing for him and the best way for us to have a player sent off. You have to deal with the Messi problem collectively. We'll have to play very compact, and be aggressive."
PSG and ex-Barca left-back Maxwell will have most of the responsibility of stopping his former teammate.
"The preparation is the same. It's certain that he's the best player in the world right now. It's difficult to defend against him on your own, but we're not only going to focus on one player," said the Brazil international, who played for Barca between 2009 and January 2012.
"We have to be solid defensively to not give Messi, Neymar and [Luis] Suarez and the players who come from midfield any space. But we want to do well in Paris, and we have to concentrate on our game."
PSG met Barca at the same stage of the 2012-13 campaign, going out on away goals, and have already played the Catalan giants twice this season.
They were beaten 3-1 at the Camp Nou at end of the group stage to finish runners-up in the section to the Blaugrana, but PSG defeated Luis Enrique's men in their first meeting at the Parc des Princes.
"It's a match which is part of our analysis of Barcelona's team," Blanc said, referring to his side's 3-2 victory in the capital in late September. "We have a lot of others, such as the one against Sevilla, but it's going to enable us to show our team what to do and what not to do.
"There are some good lessons to be learned, firstly because we won, and that we're one of the only European teams to have scored three goals against Barca. Yes, it is a match we, the staff, have been focussing on in our preparation. The two teams played well. We'll have to repeat that display."
PSG, who are unbeaten in 33 home games in European competition, will be without the suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti and Serge Aurier.
David Luiz, originally expected to miss the match through injury, was a surprise selection to the squad, though it is uncertain if he would start.
Blanc also confirmed Lucas, who made his competitive return as a substitute in PSG's Coupe de la Ligue final win on Saturday after a two-month injury layoff, would play some part in the tie.
Former Barcelona midfielder Thiago Motta was reported to be out of the game after suffering a hamstring injury in PSG's league win over Marseille 10 days ago.
The Italy international has already started running again, though Blanc acknowledged "it would take a small miracle" for Motta to be in the starting lineup with Yohan Cabaye likely to deputise.