Planet Football has compiled a list of 7 goalkeepers who have made superstar Lionel Messi “silent” when facing them.
Superstar Lionel Messi has scored 838 goals in his career to date and he has scored against some of the greatest goalkeepers of all time from Manuel Neuer, Gianluigi Buffon to Iker Casillas and Thibaut Courtois. However, there are still 7 quality goalkeepers that Messi has faced and never scored against .
Julio Cesar
The Brazilian goalkeeper boasts a better record against Messi than any other goalkeeper in football history with five encounters and has never conceded a goal. Two of their matches have come on the international stage while the other three have been in the Champions League when Barcelona faced Inter Milan.
Arguably the most famous save of his career came against Barcelona, who needed just one more goal to reach the 2010 Champions League final but Cesar made a brilliant save to deny Messi.
Julio Cesar is Inter’s legendary goalkeeper.
Victor Valdes
Messi played alongside Valdes for 10 years at Barcelona and probably scored countless goals against Valdes in training. However, when they faced each other on the international stage in 2010, Messi failed to score against his Barca team-mate. That was the only time Messi faced Valdes in his entire career.
Samir Handanovic
Handanovic played for Inter between 2014 and 2023 and during that time Messi faced them four times but never scored in any of them. However, in one of those games the Argentina international failed to score but he did assist Luis Suarez for the winner in the 84th minute.
Gianluigi Donnarumma
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Messi spent two years playing alongside Donnarumma at Paris Saint-Germain but he has never scored against the Italian goalkeeper in an official match.
He was a major contributor to Italy’s EURO 2020 championship, but they were surprisingly defeated 0-1 by North Macedonia in the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off semi-finals, where Messi and Argentina won the championship.
Donnarumma is an important stopper for PSG and the Italian national team.
Tim Howard
Howard faced Messi in two international friendlies between 2008 and 2011, helping Argentina to a defeat on both occasions. Despite that, the American goalkeeper still had praise for Messi: “It was a bad day for him. Otherwise, there’s no advice for a goalkeeper because he’s so good.”
Danijel Subasic
Croatian goalkeeper Subasic has only faced Messi once and helped his team keep a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Argentina in the 2018 World Cup group stage.
Shay Given
Given once described Messi as “the best player to ever grace the planet” and he had the chance to face him in an international friendly in 2010. Argentina won 1-0 against the Republic of Ireland but Messi failed to score against the former Newcastle United goalkeeper.
