Barcelona (AFP)
A star, and black holes. With its brilliant Argentine superstar, FC Barcelona dismissed Naples on Saturday in the round of 16 of the Champions League, but expects much more from Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and his other stars to hope to bring down Bayern in the quarterfinals.
The hyperdependence Messi in question: to get his ticket for the unpublished "Final 8" of Lisbon (August 12-23), Barça relied on only one man on Saturday (3-1). Always the same. The six-time Ballon d'Or Lionel Messi was the only Blaugrana star to assume his status as a megastar, to take the Suarez, Griezmann and others on his shoulders to the quarter-finals.
Until when will the fate of Barça be conditioned by the form of one night of Messi? The Argentine Pulga ("chip", in Spanish), so lively and bouncy as it is still at 33 years old as proved by its goal against Naples after a slalom in the opposing surface on Saturday (23rd), will it still be able to to raise his level of play in quarterfinals against the Bavarian steamroller?
- "Many doubts" -
"Messi, like so many times, was the key to a game where Barca disappeared in the second half, allowing time to pass. Despite De Jong's good second half and (Gerard) Piqué's great job and Sergi Roberto, Barça left a lot of doubts. He ended up in a hole, watching the clock tick from the 60th minute ", wrote the journalist Juan Jimenez Salvado in his column for the sports newspaper As, this Sunday .
"It was not a triumphant Barça, one who sowed fear wherever he went. He is at the minimum, and will go to Lisbon in the skin of a victim. But he has a player capable of doing absolutely amazing things. And winning this Champions could be the most amazing of all, "he summed up.
The Spanish sports press only has eyes for Messi this Sunday. "Messi is driving them to Lisbon", Mundo Deportivo shows on his front page; "Messi is taking them to Lisbon," Marca repeats; "Messi wants to be the king of Europe," As advances. But behind the king, the princes are desired.
- Griezmann "symptomatic", Suarez "below" -
French world champion Antoine Griezmann, back from a right quadriceps injury, was almost non-existent on Saturday. "Another gray game of the Frenchman. Willingness, but he continues to make improper technical errors of a footballer of his caliber. He obviously lacks complicity with several of his teammates. He was the first to join the bench. Symptomatic, "summarized the daily Marca, Spain's best-selling newspaper, on Saturday evening in its online version.
Uruguayan Luis Suarez transformed the penalty caused by Messi (45th + 1), but was not more present. "Low level. He missed some single passes and his speed is clearly below the others. He is not arriving in Lisbon in a good time," commented Marca.
In this panorama deserted by the stars of the club, the oasis was called Frenkie De Jong. The young Dutch midfielder (23) took six weeks to heal his injury to his right calf, and made a noticeable comeback, notably distilling a marvel from the outside of the right foot for Messi's refused goal (30th).
A source of hope for the Catalans, who can also count on the return of their executives Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal on Friday (19:00 GMT) for the quarter-final, and possibly that of the French international winger Ousmane Dembélé (23 years old). ), who has already been training with the rest of the squad for a short week after being injured at length this season.
© 2020 AFP