Despite all his praise and talent, Lionel Messi has never faced a more complicated task than he and his Barcelona colleagues.
The Catalan club will start their one-legged clash in the Champions League with Bayern Munich in Libson on Friday night in uncharted territory: they are the losers.
The two European heavyweights have completed decades of classic battles at the biggest level of interclub football, and are proud to have five European Breeding Cups displayed in their respective trophy cabinets, representing the 10 times they have triumphed at the elite festival among them.
It will be a strange check for both sides when they meet behind closed doors at the Estadio da Luz on Friday night, because the coronavirus pandemic, as understood through this year’s competition, will have to end through a mini tour in Portugal.
It is not that Messi’s Barcelona starts an eighth Champions League match as an unpaid team, but that is precisely what we have in store for, such is Bayern’s dominant taste and the hesitant form of the culés. Quique Setien’s team abandoned its La Liga name in favour of their rival, Real Madrid, as it made its way to the end of the extended season in Spain. Meanwhile, Bayern have lost a slight step on their way to a double in the Bundesliga and the German Cup since football resumed in Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic was closed.
Messi has been called to save Barcelona time and time in the Champions League, and delivers most of the time.
He scored two goals against Bayern in the 2009 quarter-finals when Barcelona beat Pep Guardiola in the Champions League.
He scored 4 against Arsenal the following year and against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, but Barca was a two-time favourite.
Messi also sank Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in 2011 his double in the first leg of the semi-final.
And perhaps it is part of the biggest comeback of the tournament, the 6-1 destruction of Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 after Barcelona lost 4-0 in the first leg of that last draw.
He also lifted his game and that of his teammates by seeing Napoli in the circular of 16 last week at the age of 33.
Mess has his persistent partners ahead, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann, and can count on Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba to provide the service. Barcelona also has the brilliant Gerard Piqué on its back and Marc-André ter Stegen’s safe hands between the sticks.
But still, on paper, that doesn’t seem to be enough to stop Bayern from becoming a giant this time.
“Bayern are playing really well and are full of confidence but we have the weapons to beat them,” Griezmann told Barca TV.
Messi would possibly paint his magic in front of the goal, but he will not be able to avoid the inevitable waves of attack from Bayern that will put Barca under excessive pressure on Friday night.
This is scary for Barca, that Bayern will destroy them.
Together with Robert Lewandowski, they have Europe’s top formidable striker: he has scored 53 goals this season, adding thirteen in the Champions League, more than anyone. He is deftly assisted by Thomas Mueller, who has discovered a new life under coach Hansi Flick. The rest of the maximum likely line-up would be in the starting line-up of any club in the world: Neuer, Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Thiago, Goretzka; Coguy, Gnabry. In an intellectual war between goalkeepers, Manuel Neuer is the one who helps keep Ter Stegen on the bench at his service in Gerguyy.
A beating would mean the dismissal of Setien for sure, and Barcelona would take time to get out of such a humiliation that it would officially verify that it is no longer the European force that everyone feared. More problems and disgrace at the club can also watch Messi’s departure: recently he has been very vocal and critical about how the club he has been playing in since childhood.
Barcelona v Bayern Munich Friday 23h Estadio da Luz Difusion at beIN Sports
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