For more than a decade now, Real Madrid have been tasked with solving the most difficult problem facing any club in the whole sport: What do we do about Lionel Messi?
For Real, the question has not been one limited to concerns about how to contain the world’s most singularly dominant player. That, after all, has been a conundrum posed to every team in Spain and every other European giant that ventures into the deep stages of the Champions League, where Messi lurks like a video game boss battle: achieving ultimate victory is (usually) impossible without first besting him. For Madrid though, the challenge has been more difficult than than that.
As Barcelona’s chief rival for domestic and European glory, and as the biggest, richest, most famous and decorated club in the world, they’ve not only had to deal with what Messi does to them, but also what Messi does to everyone else, and what that means for Madrid’s own aspirations.
This is after all a player who at 19 years old, scored a hat-trick against the mighty Real Madrid. He has 2 hat-tricks against the capital club now. No player has scored more goals and assists against Real Madrid than Messi(26 and counting). If there ever was a definition of Madrid’s worst nightmare, it would be personified by the little magician.
Messi kissing the Barcelona crest as he scores his second hat-trick at the Bernebeu
How can Real Madrid compete for La Liga titles and Champions League trophies when their most hated foes are armed with a living cheat code, a player who so totally warps the parameters of the game in his favor that, given a large enough sample—say, a 38-game season, or a multi-stage knockout tournament can put in dozens of goals, hundreds of dribbles and innumerable defense-cleaving passes that consistently deliver titles his way?
Even with all the money in the world and with the services of the only other player who even comes close to approximating Messi’s powers, how do you compete with that?
Nobody really knows.
The Telescopian 
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