Former Liverpool star, John Barnes has blamed forward, Lionel Messi for Barcelona’s 3-0 shock defeat to Roma on Tuesday night in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals match.
Barnes, who saw Roma overturn a 4-1 deficit to go through to the semi-finals of the competition on away goals, said Barca’s exit from the competition was because Messi did not perform better against the Serie A side.
Goals from Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas secured a 3-0 win for Roma to send the Catalan club out of the competition.
“The problem Barcelona have is when you have a player like Messi who dominates so much, if he doesn’t perform the others don’t show their worth,” Barnes told beIN Sports.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if when Messi doesn’t play then you can see the other players coming to the fore.
“When Messi plays, he completely dominates. But when he doesn’t perform, the rest of the players, who are very good, they also don’t perform.”
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