That’s the verdict of Reds legend Steve Nicol.
Liverpool go to Spain to take on Barcelona in the first leg of a glamorous Champions League semi-final showdown.
While the Merseyside outfit are high on confidence from 10 successive wins in all competitions, including a 5-0 rout of Huddersfield on Friday, they are fully aware of the task that awaits in facing Lionel Messi.
The Argentine maestro, widely hailed as the best footballer in the world if not the best of all time, continues to exert unparalleled influence on the Barca team.
The 31-year-old boasts 46 goals and 22 assists in just 45 matches across all competitions this season, having had a key say in Barca’s quarter-final victory over Manchester United with a second-leg brace in Catalonia.
Indeed, the Barca captain has 15 goals in 15 games against English clubs at the Nou Camp – though he has never scored against Liverpool having drawn a blank when the teams last met in the last 16 in 2007.
Yet former Liverpool defender Nicol does not expect Jurgen Klopp to specifically task one or more of his midfielders to follow Messi at all times in order to try and reduce the time he has on the ball.
Instead, Nicol thinks Liverpool will play their normal game as they look to come away with a positive result to take to Anfield for the second leg on May 7.
Nicol told ESPN FC: “They will not do a man-marking job on this guy. For two reasons, one – it’s not Klopp’s style to go changing his whole system for one guy, as good as Messi is. It’s not him.
“The other reason is, a thousand teams have tried to man-mark this guy and none of them have succeeded.
“To upset your whole strategy to do a man-marking job has shown not to work. Why would you mess your team up?
“When you’re playing against someone like Messi it’s about when he comes into a certain area of the field, someone has to take responsibility of closing him down.
“It depends on what area of the field he is. If he’s dropping in the middle, it’s whoever’s playing right down the pipe, it’s [up to] him.
“If he’s drifting on a wider side, it’s the outside of the three on either side. Sometimes the centre back might have to step in as well.
“It’s really about being smart. But Liverpool have got smart players, that’s why they’re challenging for the Premier League and why they’ve got this far in the Champions League.
“Because not only do they have ability and good mental strength, they’ve got smart players and smart defenders – as smart a defence as any other team.
“The defensive side of it doesn’t worry but Messi does, you’d be daft not to be worried about this guy.”