#4 Lionel Messi’s poor form
This is a matter of concern for Luis Enrique’s side if there was any for the Barcelona side. Lionel Messi continues to be the one player whose form directly impacts the Barcelona swagger. On the night, Lionel Messi could hardly put one over Atletico as hard as he tried to. Granted Atletico are a team whose prowess is rare, but Leo has had his form dipping for a while now.
He now has spent 452 minutes without a goal for the Catalan side, his worst run for six years, the last being a run of 527 minutes which ended in 2010. His last goal before this run was against Arsenal in the round of 16.
While it doesn’t concern Leo if he doesn’t score but what will bother him is that it has now coincided with a poor run of results for Barcelona as well. Neymar is evidently not capable of taking burden in crunch ties if his team mates fail to perform as was evident on the night and Luis Suarez too had a rare off day this game, which Luis Enrique will hope doesn’t continue in the days to come.
Lionel Messi needs to overcome his blip in form or someone needs to step up considering how close we are to the season end now.
