Lionel Messi crashes out of the Champions League yet again

What's the story?

At the beginning of the season Lionel Messi announced to a pack Nou Camp that it had been far too long since Barcelona had won the Champions League, and that he and the team would do anything they could to change that this season.

Barcelona won the first leg of their semi-final tie against Liverpool 3-0, however, against all odds Liverpool overturned the deficit and won 4-0 to advance to their second consecutive Champions League final.

In case you didn't know...

Although Messi has been exceptional in La Liga over the years, his performances in the Champions League, especially the knockout stages, have often come under scrutiny.

This became especially apparent between the 2015/16 to 2017/18 season which saw Real Madrid win three consecutive titles, with Cristiano Ronaldo performing heroically in the knockout stages in all three campaigns.

In contrast, Lionel Messi couldn't emulate this success and would often go missing in the important matches over this period.

This season all of this had seemed to change, with a motivated Messi scoring his first quarterfinal goals in 6 years and also scoring at least 5 knockout stage goals in a season for the first time since the 2011/12 season.

However, the cruel hand of fate decided that it wouldn't be Messi's year and at the hands of Liverpool he will have to wait at least another year for yet another chance at winning the Champions League.

The heart of the matter

Once again Lionel Messi has been unable to inspire Barcelona to the Champions League trophy.

Like in all the past seasons since his last victory in 2015, Lionel Messi has been unable to find an extra gear when the going gets truly tough.

Whether it has been at the hands of Atletico Madrid in 2015/16, Juventus in 2016/17, Roma in 2017/18 or now Liverpool, Messi has lacked an extra gear when his team needed him.

Despite being virtually flawless in most circumstances, this is a feature which we have seen frequently for both club and country over the last 6 years or so.

Messi is arguably football's greatest front runner, but when he is forced to be the underdog in dire moments he seemingly struggles to overcome adversity.

What's next?

For Barcelona, they have already won the league and still have the Copa Del Rey to compete for in order to complete a domestic double.

In addition, Messi has yet another Copa America to compete in, his third since 2015, so his season isn't finished yet.