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What's the story?
Former Premier League goalkeeper and current ESPN FC pundit Shaka Hislop has disagreed with Lionel Messi's decision to defend Ernesto Valverde after Barcelona's humiliating Champions League exit.
In case you didn't know
Barcelona ended their season on a bitter note as they suffered yet another heartbreak following their 2-1 defeat to Valencia in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday.
The loss particularly stung owing to the fact that the Catalan giants had crashed out of the Champions League just a few weeks ago. The club squandered their three-goal lead over Liverpool in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final fixture and succumbed to a 4-0 defeat that knocked them straight out of the competition.
Messi has lamented the lost chances for a treble, but remained supportive of Barcelona's under-fire manager Valverde. Speaking at a conference ahead of the Copa del Rey final, the Argentine said:
"Criticism of the coach? If I'm honest, I didn't see much. They told me something but honestly, manager [Valverde] did an impressive job. He was not to blame for our elimination vs LFC. We're the only culprits. That match & image we left was regrettable."
"I would like Valverde to continue next year, we won a double last year and we can repeat that this year."
The heart of the matter
Speaking on ESPN, Hislop expressed his disagreement with Messi's opinion of Valverde saying (via Express UK),
"I'm not so sure. The reason I'm this uncertain is because this wasn't a one-off."
"And as much as I sympathise with Lionel Messi and how he feels about Valverde, that hasn’t been much of a secret over the last couple of years that he’s a Valverde fan and would like to see him stay."
"I think the other challenge for Barcelona is, if you get rid of Valverde, who’s going to come in? I don’t think there are any names that come to mind, certainly not right now."
"But for me, Valverde has to shoulder some of the blame. Now, again, if it was just the Liverpool game, you could say ‘well, okay’."
"But for it to happen against Roma 12 months ago and for him to have a similar response, or lack of, for Barcelona last season to go undefeated up until their last away game against Levante and for some ridiculous reason you leave Lionel Messi at home, that’s on the manager."
What's next?
While Barcelona will be out of action for a little while, Liverpool will travel to Madrid this weekend to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final.
