Barcelona give Messi a reason to believe even after Champions League failure

By Sports Desk March 10, 2021

Another year, another early Champions League exit for Barcelona.

Despite Lionel Messi's sparkling intransigence, there was to be no second 'remontada' against Paris Saint-Germain. After Roma, Liverpool and Bayern Munich in the past three years, 2021 saw Barca dance their last tango in Paris, a sixth season in a row of knockout failure. The opponents change, but the story stays the same.

Or does it?

This was not Rome, nor Anfield, nor Lisbon, the scene of last year's 8-2 annihilation by Bayern. This was not Barca collapsing under pressure, wilting before foreign crowds or just plain giving up. Their 5-2 aggregate loss to PSG was born of a wretched first-leg performance, but they are not the team they were just three weeks ago. At Parc des Princes, they showed that. Messi showed that.

Since that 4-1 loss at Camp Nou, Barca have won four games and drawn two, conceding just two goals, a penalty here and against Cadiz. They have closed back to within six points of LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid, breathing life into a title challenge that had looked over in the autumn.

In a Copa del Rey comeback against Sevilla, they played with verve and passion seldom seen in the recent years of squad mismanagement and boardroom chaos. And while they didn't beat PSG, they were the dominant side and thwarted mostly by man-of-the-match Keylor Navas, their performance in a different stratosphere to that sad clown act against Bayern a year ago.

We're into a new era now, of course. Joan Laporta, the man who appointed Pep Guardiola, who oversaw Messi's introduction to the world stage and counts the club captain as a friend, was voted in as president again on Sunday. He assured members he was their best chance of seeing Messi sign a new contract; what he saw on Wednesday as he watched from the stands will not have dissolved that belief.

What Messi wants, what he has always wanted, is a winning project. His protracted and ultimately futile efforts to leave last year were fuelled not just by the ugliness of Josep Maria Bartomeu's final months as president, but by the fear that winning the biggest trophies on offer – this trophy, to be precise – had slipped away. He wants a coach with a plan, a team with panache, and a collective drive to knit it together.

If he had none of that in the first leg, he certainly did in Paris.

Without first-choice centre-backs in Gerard Pique and Ronald Araujo, Ronald Koeman dropped Frenkie de Jong into a back three with Clement Lenglet and Oscar Mingueza. It meant attacking full-backs, Pedri and Sergio Busquets could all be accommodated behind Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele. At an average age of 26 years and 166 days old, it was also Barcelona's youngest starting XI in a Champions League knockout tie since they beat Stuttgart 4-0 in March 2010 under Guardiola.

It was a bold set-up, and the players embraced it. They had 73 per cent of the ball in the first half, attempting 10 shots in the first 26 minutes, just two short of their total from the first leg. Dembele could have scored twice but for Navas; Mingueza narrowly missed contact with a clear header. Barca ended the half with 16 attempts, the most in the first 45 minutes of a game since January 2019 against Levante, and the most by far faced by PSG in a first half at home all season.

Kylian Mbappe perhaps thought the tie was dead when he swept home from the spot against the run of play, Lenglet punished by VAR for an entirely accidental trip on Mauro Icardi, but Messi had other ideas. His equaliser was a sensational, swerving strike that had Navas grasping at thin air. He should have made it 2-1 before the break, but Navas' leg and the underside of the crossbar combined to keep out his penalty. An inch or two either way, and they really would have believed.

That was the key difference to those awful European nights experienced by Messi since he last won this trophy six years ago. Where before came embarrassment, anger and inquests, here there was disappointment – but reason to hope. They outplayed last season's beaten finalists on their own patch in a way that looked impossible a month ago.

Barca are not where they want to be – far from it – and this season will still be remembered for failure in Europe. But they are, as a club, at last moving in the right direction. Whether Messi chooses to be part of that progress next season is, even now, difficult to predict. And if this was the last time we saw him in this tournament in a Barca shirt, at least it was a more fitting farewell.

Related items

  • Football rumours: Arsenal draw up 10-man shortlist in quest for striker Football rumours: Arsenal draw up 10-man shortlist in quest for striker
    What the papers say

    Arsenal’s quest to find a new striker has been whittled down to a 10-man shortlist, according to the Daily Mirror. Among those being watched by the Gunners are RB Leipzig’s Slovenian Benjamin Sesko, 20, Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres, 25, and his fellow Sweden international Alexander Isak, 24, at Newcastle.

    Another Arsenal target may be out of reach, reports the Daily Express. They have been tracking Dutch winger Xavi Simons, 20, but his parent club Paris St-Germain are keen to give him game time after a loan spell at RB Leipzig.

    Liverpool forward Luis Diaz, 27, is still hopeful of a move to Spain. The Daily Mail reports on the Colombia international’s father saying he remains keen on a move to one of La Liga’s top clubs.

    Manchester United have strengthening their defence as their main summer priority, according to The Daily Telegraph. Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, 21, is high on their list of targets.

    Social media round-upPlayers to watch

    Bruno Guimaraes: Spanish outlet Fichajes says Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is “obsessed” by the Newcastle midfielder, 26, who would cost around £85million.

    Lucas Paqueta: West Ham expect Manchester City to make another bid for the Brazil midfielder, 26, according to Football Insider.

  • We expect to be here – Emma Hayes says semi-finals are where Chelsea should be We expect to be here – Emma Hayes says semi-finals are where Chelsea should be

    Chelsea boss Emma Hayes believes her side has simply lived up to expectations by securing passage to the Champions League semi-finals after a 1-1 draw with Ajax at Stamford Bridge.

    Mayra Ramirez opened the scoring 33 minutes into in the first half of her Champions League debut and, while Chasity Grant netted a second-half consolation for the visitors, the Blues ultimately booked their place in the final four with a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory.

    The Blues, who progressed to the semi-finals for the fifth time in seven seasons, will face the winners of the last-eight clash between holders Barcelona and Norwegian side Brann, who play their second leg on Thursday.

    Hayes said: “If you look at our record in the Champions League, even in the last five years, it was only once we didn’t qualify from the group. We’ve made the latter stages every year.

    “We expect to be here, I should say that. I don’t make any excuses. We should be at this level, and we should be at the semi-finals. Of course we have a little bit more depth to be able to do things like make six changes tonight than we’ve ever had.

    “But we haven’t won anything. We’re in the place we want to be. I don’t know who the opponent will be, but we’re ready.”

    The Champions League trophy is the one that still eludes Hayes, who has secured 13 major titles in her 12-year run at the Blues’ helm that will conclude when she departs at the end of this season to take over the US women’s national team ahead of this summer’s Olympics.

    The now five-time semi-finalists came closest when they reached a maiden final in 2021, ultimately finishing runners-up in a 4-0 loss to Barcelona, the same side who knocked them out with a 2-1 victory on aggregate in last season’s semi-finals.

    This time around Hayes feels Chelsea have “more attacking options, more variety, a little more experience”.

    “We’ve been in the latter stages so many times, we know where we have to be to play in those sorts of games,” Hayes added.

    Ajax captain Sherida Spitse, whose side were just the second Dutch club to reach the last eight in Women’s Champions League history, insisted she and her team-mates will walk away from the competition with their heads held high.

    She said: “I think we can be really proud of each other. Of course you always want to win, you always want to go through, but in the end we have shown who Ajax are and that we have developed in a good way, especially in the games in the Champions League.

    “We have to be here every year because I think that is the best place to be.”

  • James Maddison wants opportunity to show what he can do for England James Maddison wants opportunity to show what he can do for England

    James Maddison is eager to have an opportunity to show Gareth Southgate what he can do in an England shirt – but insists he is old enough now to not sulk when he does not start.

    The Tottenham playmaker will be hopeful of a place in Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad when it is announced in May, having made an eye-catching cameo appearance in the 2-2 draw with Belgium on Tuesday.

    After sitting out the loss to Brazil, Maddison came on to tee up Jude Bellingham for the last-gasp equaliser against the Red Devils.

    It was Maddison’s sixth England cap, but he has never completed a full 90 minutes for the senior side.

    Asked if he was happy to be able to make an impact, the former Leicester player said: “Yes, but we’ve got 26 players who are capable of that.

    “There is big competition, a lot of quality in the squad. You have to make sure when you are called upon, you have to go and do the business.

    “I don’t lack the confidence and belief in myself to do that, but you still have to go and do it, you have to produce. I just want that opportunity, I want that time on the pitch, because I know what I’m capable of.

    “It’s not the be-all and end-all that I got an assist. I know the quality that I have and possess and that can help this team, most definitely. You’ve also got to show it and you have also got to have the opportunity to show it.

    “I didn’t feature in the first game, which was disappointing because I wanted to play in a big game at Wembley.

    “I came on (against Belgium) and made an impact. I’m showing him (Southgate) what I’m capable of and I just want to show more of that.”

    Maddison explained how he had watched from the bench against Belgium, seeing the spaces in which he felt he could operate.

    While he is plotting and planning, though, he also admits to being frustrated at not being on the pitch.

    “Grumpy. Very, very, very grumpy is the first thing I’d say,” he replied when asked what he is like sat on the bench.

    “But once you accept the fact you’re on the bench. I’m experienced now, I’m 27. On the odd occasion when I was younger, I’d be sulking, I’d be moody, probably not go about it the right way as a teenage James Maddison.

    “Now I’m older, I just assess the game and see where I can have an impact. I noticed here there was a lot of space between the lines.

    “Their midfield started really strong but it looked like they tired – it’s a big pitch, Wembley – and I knew I’d be able to have an impact. So I studied the little pockets, I got on and managed to make it work.”

    There is fierce competition for a place in England’s Euro 2024 squad and the self-confident Maddison is now targeting a good end to the campaign with Spurs to aid his cause.

    “I don’t feel any pressure. Once you’re away from here you can only play well for your club,” he said.

    “I’ve been in the squad for 18 months now. I feel really at home. I have got a great relationship with all the staff and the players.”

    Making it to Germany would give Maddison a chance to play in a major tournament after a niggling knee injury saw him miss England’s 2022 World Cup campaign despite being part of the squad in Qatar.

    “That was a very difficult time, what people don’t see behind the curtain,” he said.

    “I had an injury that I just couldn’t shake off. I got myself back training after the group stages but I wasn’t really right.

    “I was so disappointed, because going to a major tournament with your country is the pinnacle and you want to impact. I’m hungry to get there now.”

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.