'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#4 His quest for European redemption
While Barcelona have undoubtedly been the most dominant team in LaLiga in recent years, they have foundered on the continent. They have been eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the UCL in each of the last three seasons.
What makes their European woes more disheartening for the Blaugrana is the fact that each of those Champions League campaigns were won by their arch-rivals Real Madrid, with the Spanish capital club becoming the first team to retain the UCL in its current format in 2017, and going one further by making it three in a row after their 3-1 victory over Liverpool in Kyiv in May.
Lionel Messi has also suffered a bit of a drop in performances on the continent in recent times, falling behind Cristiano Ronaldo in their personal battle in the Champions League.
Despite taking an initial lead on the Portuguese; he was the first of the pair to break Raul's previous record of 71 Champions League goals, with his 72nd strike in the competition coming in November of 2014 in a group stage clash Apoel Nicosia. However, Ronaldo beat him to 100 goals in the tournament, doing so with his brace against Bayern in April 2017.
Incredibly, Ronaldo also became the first man in history to score 100 goals in the competition for one club, beating Messi to this feat despite only joining Real Madrid in 2009, five seasons after Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Champions League Golden Boot in each of the last six seasons (sharing the 2015 edition jointly with Messi and Neymar). He is also the only player to have scored 15 goals in a single Champions League campaign, remarkably doing this on three occasions, while Lionel Messi has hit double figures in the Champions League just twice in the last six seasons.
This outperformance By Ronaldo on the continent has seen Messi overshadowed by the Portuguese in recent years in the awarding of individual honours, and saw him miss out on the top three nominees for the UEFA Men's Best Player for the third time in the last five seasons.
In what was once inconceivable when Messi had a 4-1 lead on Ronaldo in the Ballon d'Or race, Ronaldo has not only equalled him but also stands in good stead to overtake him when this year's awards are handed out in January on account of his Champions League achievements.
Barcelona's primary focus would be on regaining their lost place of pride in the Champions League, and they would need Messi to be at his absolute best to achieve this.
Lionel Messi would also seek to restore his status as the best player in the world, and the only way to achieve this would be by putting out extraordinary performances in the Champions League. Therefore his focus on achieving in Europe could be detrimental to his LaLiga campaign.
