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What’s the story?
In a pre-match press conference ahead of Barcelona's Copa del Rey Final against Valencia on Saturday, Lionel Messi said that he is still having trouble digesting his side's loss against Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League. The Argentine implied that the game at Anfield tarnished their season.
In case you didn’t know..
Barcelona went into the semi-final tie against Liverpool as favorites as they were tipped to lift the Champions League trophy this year. The Catalans even stunned the Reds at Camp Nou as they won the first leg 3-0 but what came next was something no one could even imagine. Liverpool beat the Blaugrana 4-0 at Anfield to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate and seal a berth in the final; where they will play Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid.
The heart of the matter
As reported by AS, in a press conference when the Argentine ace was asked about the loss at Anfield and whether it was worse than the defeat to Roma last year responded by saying:
"Yes. Because everyone expected us to be in the Champions League final for how close we were. That's why all of us had the Champions League final on our minds so being eliminated made the disappointment even greater, especially after what happen the year before against Roma. But it's true that winning the double would be an important achievement. It'll be a bit of a strange sensation for suffering the same fate in Europe."
"Our performance was pitiful, we gave a poor impression. It's the second year running that we've been close to reaching the Champions League final. But it's fair to say that we cannot allow what happened against Liverpool to happen again. We were playing for a place in the final. I'm partly to blame for what happened as the rest of the players are."
The Barcelona captain had promised the fans that he would do everything in his power to bring the Champions League back to Camp Nou at the start of the season and this year's loss is one that is definitely going to hurt him for a long time.
What's next?
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has no time to lament as the club look forward to seal the domestic double this weekend when they face Valencia in the Copa Del Rey finals.
