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Barcelona is in the middle of a new crisis.
The blaugrana lost their third league game of the season last night at the Wanda Metropolitano against Atlético de Madrid, leaving them 10th in the standings.
Yannick Carrasco scored the only goal of the game in injury time in the first half, and the Belgian winger took advantage of a mistake by the generally brilliant Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
It was a mediocre performance by Ronald Koeman overall, and Barça rarely threatened Jan Oblak’s goal.
On the rare occasions that they did, the man behind the play was most of the time, you guessed it, Lionel Messi.
Now the Argentine was a long, long way from his best performance against Atlético last night, but those who label his performance as a ‘kind of disaster’ are going way over the top.
Whenever Barça threatened to go forward, it was through Messi and the Argentine was also robbed of a brilliant assist from Clement Lenglet, the Frenchman who went straight to Oblak when it seemed easier to score.
You can see Messi’s highlights from the game below and they are proof that he still carries this side of Barca.
Summary of Messi vs Atlético de Madrid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDxDFJJBdA4
If that performance had come from any other top-tier player, we would probably be praising it as a ‘creative masterclass’.
But this is Messi and he is judged to a much higher standard than any other player on the planet, except Cristiano Ronaldo, of course.
However, the only thing that cannot be excused is the Argentine’s lack of leadership, both on and off the field.
As we reported HERE, Barcelona’s ‘captain’ sent 17-year-old midfielder Pedri to confront the media after the match instead of taking responsibility himself.
Given that Messi will leave the club in the summer, when his contract expires, it would be prudent for Barça to take away the captain’s armband for the rest of the season.
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