Lionel Messi 'Impossible to Stop,' Says Rafael van der Vaart Before El Clasico

Lionel Messi is "from another world" and near impossible to defend against, according to former Real Madrid star Rafael van der Vaart.  

Real meet Messi's Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.

The tie is finely balanced at 1-1, and the winner will set up a final clash against either Valencia or Real Betis.

Los Blancos go into the fixture on the back of a 2-1 win over Levante in La Liga that followed a shock defeat to Girona at home.

Barca, meanwhile, won 4-2 at Sevilla on Saturday thanks to a stunning hat-trick from the perennially in-form Messi:

Van der Vaart was clearly wowed by Messi's performance against Sevilla and sent out a warning to his former club ahead of El Clasico, per Dejan Kalinic of Goal:

"He's from another world. I saw him the other day against Sevilla. It's impossible to stop him. I think so because he appears everywhere. He runs with the ball but between speed and technique, you cannot defend him."

Real were thrashed 5-1 by Barcelona at the Camp Nou in La Liga back in October, a result that brought Julen Lopetegui's short tenure as manager to an end.

Santiago Solari engineered a much-improved performance for the Copa first leg at the Camp Nou earlier this month, and Real are now arguably slight favourites to advance to the final as they are at home on Wednesday.

Barca have won the Copa del Rey in each of the last four seasons, while Real have not reached a final since they last won the tournament back in 2014.

The Catalan side have a seven-point lead at the top of La Liga and are nine points clear of Real:

As such the Copa is the only domestic silverware remaining for the Madrid giants to win this season as they also go for a fourth consecutive UEFA Champions League victory.

A win for Real on Wednesday could give them a huge boost as they enter the run-in for 2018-19, but they will need to find some way of stopping Messi if they are to succeed.