[MENTION=12906]DonAndres[/MENTION], I see it differently. I will do a video analysis on the away game vs Liverpool and say what I think are the issues in terms of Messi's positioning during both attacking phase and defensive transition. What he should be doing, but doesn't. And how this hurts the team in attack.
Messi has failed to score or assist in all away games that led to our CL elimination. Since Pep, that is:
0-4 vs Bayern in 2012/13
0-1 vs Atletico in 2013/14
0-2 vs Atletico in 2015/16
0-3 vs Juventus in 2015-/16
0-3 vs Roma in 2016/17
0-4 vs Liverpool in 2018/19
Goal difference in these 6 games? 0-17.
For a player that is supposed to be the main creator and scorer of the team those are terrible numbers. He is surely doing something wrong. It can't be somebody elses fault all the time, while he takes the main credit in great wins.
I'm not saying Messi never has fault, just that it wasn't the case this time.
One thing I find to be completely wrong is how people in this thread are treating Messi's poor performances in those games as independent, mutually exclusive events. As if Rakitic/Cou/Alba/Suarez/Busi/Vidal all dropping 2/10 performances or worse somehow had little to no bearing on Leo dropping his supposed 4/10. You guys are pretty explicitly suggesting that Messi was just "trash" on those days completely of his own accord and his own individual failures, and that his poor performance is just a coincidence of his own making alongside the even worse performances of his teammates.
That's the only way to justify the rationalization you guys make that if Messi were mentally stronger or more determined he wouldn't have dropped a sub 6/10 performance and instead pull out a classic Messi 7-8+/10 performance instead, regardless of how his teammates are performing around him. As if it is in his power to turn the tide like that. Can you name the instances where it was even POSSIBLE for a player to play anywhere near their best level when the team's performance suffers that badly?
The truth is that an individual's performance is a teammate dependent value. Players don't and simply CAN'T look anywhere near their best in conditions where the whole team looks like it's getting drowned underwater.
Let's look at it case by case:
-Bayern: Team didn't show up at all , Messi didn't show up at all. Even if he did it would've been entirely worthless, nothing Messi did or didn't do could influence that tie at all.
-Atletico 2014, 2016: Team didn't show up in 2014 but did show up in 2016. Messi didn't show up for either game. Those seasons, especially 2014, were injury riddled and nowhere near his best form. 2016 Messi vs Atletico is his true worst CL showing IMO because Messi stepping up would've made the difference and his teammates weren't that bad.
-Roma 2018: Team didn't bring any quality performance, neither did Messi.
-Juve 2016: Same as above, but Leo did have moments here and there that were quality. Even then it's like vs Bayern where him showing up wouldn't have made the difference.
-Liverpool 2019: Team didn't show up, Messi DID show up. I have little doubt that if even 1-2 starters were switched out we would've made it through and Messi probably would've scored/assisted, he was looking very sharp in the final 3rd with many of his actions and just barely didn't succeed. Even if Messi had the EXACT performance he gave IRL at Anfield, people probably would've praised it if the scoreline was 0-2 instead of 0-4.
All of these games except possibly 2016 Atletico were games where none of the team brought it on the day. Messi was able to be active/dangerous in attack in 1, arguably 2 of all of those games which is a really bad look on the surface. But to that, I ask you when have any players EVER been able to consistently show up in 0-3/0-4 beatdowns and perform better than their team allows them to? The answer is probably never. The likes of Ronaldo certainly never even looked like he was on the pitch in games where RM wasn't comfortably mounting offense on their opponents, he even looked invisible in plenty of games where his team was great.
So unless you think it was Messi who was largely responsible for the conditions of the game being 0-3/0-4 in the first place, idk what you expect of him. And to claim that opinion is to completely ignore the systemic team collapse that happened from minute 1 in every one of those games, regardless of Messi "not moving" or "not pressing".
It was a match where our best players put in a 4/10 performance. Even if you say Messi was our best player, he was still mediocre, which is the most generous adjective you could use to describe his performance as a Barcelona captain (again something the Messi fans completely ignores, his responsibility as the captain of the team).
