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Lionel Messi admits Barcelona talked about signing Fraser Forster after declaring he was ‘not human’ following a 2-1 defeat to Celtic in 2012.
Forster, 36, currently plays for Tottenham in the Premier League as a back-up goalkeeper to Guglielmo Vicario.
The Englishman caught Messi’s attention in the 2012-13 season, when Celtic produced a stunning Champions League win over the Catalan club.
The Scottish side secured the victory despite Barcelona having 89 per cent of the possession and 23 attempts on goal, when Messi was at his peak.
Forster was very much the star of the show at Parkhead – conjuring up 13 saves – with Messi left blown away by his performance in Glasgow.
‘The performance of Fraser Forster against us was talked about for a long time,’ Messi said about the match.
‘There was one game in Scotland when he was not human, it was the best goalkeeping performance I have seen.
‘When Victor Valdes said that he was leaving Barcelona we even talked about him playing here.’
Forster responded to Messi’s comments in October 2023 be telling Spursplay: ‘It’s nice, isn’t it?
‘It’s impossible to put into words. We’d played them away, I think, two weeks earlier and we lost 2-1 in the last minute and I’d made saves.
‘But the performance we’d put in away from home really carried us into the home one because we knew we’d have the fans with us.
‘But yeah, it was just one of those nights where everything, you know. You make a couple of saves early and you’re like, come on, bring it on. That team as well, if you don’t enjoy playing those games, do you know what I mean?
‘But the noise that night as well – obviously we ended up going 2-0 up and they scored right at the end but it was just, kind of, unbelievable.
‘It was just one of those days when you’re in the zone and everything goes your way. You’re seeing the ball like it’s a gym ball and it’s just amazing.
‘I think that after that night I didn’t sleep after the game, it was just amazing.
‘I’m obviously fortunate to have played in those types of games and like I said before, half of my memories in that game are the atmosphere and the fans and lots of it is that rather than that save or this save. It was just – the occasion.’
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