Last weekend, Luis Suarez gave Barca bad news. The Uruguayan striker was injured and out for several weeks. This means that the MSG trio has lost a piece of the song shortly after it exploded.
As expected, Barca lacks Suarez, which means the responsibility is placed on Leo Messi's shoulders. El Puga was like that, still explosive and made every defense shaky. But on an unlucky day, the "Giant"'s main weapon was suppressed.
The question for Barca under Valverde is repeated, how long do they need Messi again? In the context of still having excellent players in the attack such as Antoine Griezmann or Ousmane Dembele, Barca remained silent and then lost the opportunity to decide their fate early in the group stage.
The way Messi works, the influence at Barca is similar. That is why El Puga has the right to decide everything both on the pitch and in the dressing room. Griezmann's arrival made Messi unhappy in both speech and action.
In the match against Inter Milan, the Argentine superstar only passed to his teammates once. Meanwhile, in the match against Slavia, this number is 4. As Barca began to feel stuck in the second half of the first half, Messi, in a situation surrounded by 3 players, still chose to bypass, instead of passing to Griezmann in an open position.
And so the goal did not come, Griezmann did not dare to show a regional attitude or call on Messi to pass next time.
If at Atletico Madrid, the French striker was so independent, at Barcelona, he would be so passive. It is not allowed to play on the field without permission, and not allowed to be the center of every pass while Messi is there. In other words, Griezmann is being isolated by the person he once thought would help him win the Champions League.
Dembele has suffered too many injuries, leading to his early weakness. However, without Suarez, Barca still has Frenkie De Jong. The Dutch midfielder was also greatly affected by the shadow that Messi is covering on the pitch even though he is not a striker.
It was not until the end of the match when everything was ready for the home team that De Jong decided to rush forward to find a way to get past the two Slavia players. Before that, throughout the match, he only tried to pass to the top, of course the destination was still Messi like many others.
Griezmann does not dare to "see the workers' eyes" and so does De Jong. The two bright talents of the "Giants" cannot be themselves when playing against a small team like Slavia in the "fire pan" of Nou Camp. Football is a team sport, Messi is really good but cannot go through 10 opponent players alone before facing and shooting into the net of the away team's goalkeeper.
Barca have played badly this year but are still top of La Liga, partly because Real Madrid are equally bad. However, the situation in the Champions League is different. If it were like that, would the promise to bring the trophy to Nou Camp that Messi announced at the beginning of last season come true?
Last season, they played excellently until Liverpool made an unimaginable comeback. This season may not be there.
I was surprised to remember that Barcelona had not won the championship for 4 years, even though they were the top candidate every year. And in those 4 seasons after 2015, they were eliminated twice due to unbelievable comebacks, also in matches where Messi almost disappeared.
