Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde says Lionel Messi can handle man-marking.

Girona defender Pablo Maffeo has been praised for his job on Messi in Barca's win on the weekend.

"With regards to the the man marking of Messi, I did it once with Athletic and I would not do it again," Valverde said.

"Each team is free to propose the attack and defence that it deems appropriate, and based on that, we try to take advantage of it.

"If they mark individually, zonally or whatever, we will try to overcome it."