Former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker, Michael Owen, has blamed Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez for Barcelona’s elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday.
Barca threw away a 4-1 lead from the first leg of their quarter-final tie against Roma, losing 3-0 in Italy to exit the competition on away goals rule.
Own claimed that Messi and Suarez were effectively passengers when Barcelona are defending.
“It is incredible. When we look at the stats and everything that it tells us, it is incredible, but your eyes don’t lie.
“We looked at the game in the first leg… we’ve watched Barcelona for a number of months now and I’m not sure — even though they haven’t conceded many — I’m not sure you can not concede when you’ve got two strikers that don’t put anything into defending.
“They are basically defending with eight outfield players against eleven and I’m not sure you can do that at the highest level.
“You could argue that Roma aren’t at the highest level. There are teams that will exploit that even more. But no more, because Barca are out,” Owen said on BT Sport.
Messi has scored 39 goals in 46 games for Barcelona in all competitions this season, while Suarez has hit 26 in 43.
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