Barcelona need "space Messi" to overcome the Bayern hurdle tomorrow
Argentine star Lionel Messi will face the toughest test this season when his Spanish team, Barcelona, meets Bayern Munich, the brilliant German champion, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League football tomorrow in the Portuguese capital Lisbon. Of the eight teams that reached this role, Barcelona and Bayern are the only two former champions, as each has won the title on five occasions.
And Spanish media talk about Barcelona needing "space Messi" in order to overtake the first candidate for the title, the strong performer, who has not been defeated in all tournaments since last December, Bayern Munich. This is a description given to Messi when he is at his best.
Barcelona rarely enters Messi, who is not a candidate to win a European match, but after he gave up the League title to the eternal rivals Real Madrid this season and due to the enormous levels and results provided by Bayern, who won the Bundesliga title for the eighth year in a row, in addition to the domestic cup, the Catalan club does not seem in a position Envied him.
Although the Argentine is now 33 years old, Barcelona still count on him in the first place. Messi scored two goals against the Bavarian giants when the two teams met in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2009 when Barcelona went on to win the title under the leadership of Pep Guardiola, the current manager of Manchester City, who meets Lyon on Saturday. He scored four goals against Arsenal the following year and five against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, but in both years Barcelona were the favorites to win.
The player who has tournaments and rounds in the Champions League and is the second best scorer in the history of the competition (115 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo with 131 goals), Real Madrid also dropped in his home in the "Santiago Bernabeu" in 2011 when he scored a double in the semi-final first leg, including one The most beautiful tournament ever, adding a spark to the enmity of the two teams.
He was also part of the team that achieved a historic "Remontada" after Barcelona beat Paris Saint-Germain, 6-1, in the second leg of the 2017 final, after falling by a clean fourth. This time, however, the risk appears different.
With Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez and French striker Antoine Griezmann at his side, Dutchman Frankie de Jong and veteran Sergio Busquets behind him, and Jordi Alba on the left side, Messi will probably not be alone.
Even in the back line, Gerard Pique is still one of the best defenders in Spain, while German Marc-Andre ter Stegen has proven his place as one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the moment. "Bayern are playing in a great way with high confidence, but we have the weapons to beat them," Griezmann said in an interview with the club's official channel. But regardless of the names surrounding him, the feeling always tends to the inevitability of Messi rising to his usual level so that Barcelona can overcome the Bayern hurdle.