Liverpool resembles a bitter pill for Lionel Messi. The power of Messi to score goals vanished in the Champions League semi-final. The second leg match between Liverpool vs Barcelona took place at Anfield Stadium on Tuesday (05/07/2019).
In the match, the guest team swallowed a score of 0-4. Messi and his friends failed to advance to the final after losing 3-4 on aggregate.
Messi returned to be the fulcrum of the match. This can be seen from the statistical record of Messi who managed to release five shots with two of them on target.
Messi’s record is above average when compared to other players’ shots. Luis Suarez and Coutinho as Messi’s partners on the front lines, only able to release one shot on target.
Messi actually also had a record of two shots right on goal at the first meeting at Camp Nou. The difference at that time, Messi was sharper after scoring two goals.
Suarez and Coutinho were even more fierce. Suarez can score one goal from three shots. While Coutinho released 2 total shots.
Then why this time Messi can’t score? Messi failed to add his goal points because of the brilliant performance of Alisson Becker under the Liverpool crossbar.
The Brazilian goalkeeper managed to thwart five Barca golden opportunities. Alisson made Messi (two chances), Jordi Alba (one chance), Coutinho (one chance), and Luis Suarez (one chance) to bite the finger.
Alisson seems to really learn from the first meeting. He conceded 3 goals and could only do 2 saves.
The failure of Messi to score is not just because of Alisson. Liverpool are a strong team when they play at home in the Champions League this season.
At present, Liverpool have conceded just two goals at Anfield Stadium. That happened when Liverpool hosted Paris Saint-Germain in the opening match of the group stage which ended with a Red victory 3-2.
After that, Liverpool’s goalpost was sterile. Liverpool carved 5 clean sheets or no conceded.
Messi’s goal record against the English club had finally stopped at 26 goals. The details are Arsenal (9), Manchester City (6), Manchester United (4), Chelsea (3), Tottenham Hotspur (2), and Liverpool (2). Messi failed to add to the record of his goals on English soil.
So far, Messi has scored 7 goals. This amount was created by Messi in 5 matches. Here’s Messi’s goal record on English soil:
- Round of 16 of the 2013-2014 season Man City 0-2 Barcelona, Messi scored 1 penalty goal.
- Round of 16 of the 2015-2016 season Arsenal 0-2 Barcelona, Messi scored 2 goals.
- 2016-2017 season group stage Manchester City 3-1 Barcelona, Messi scored 1 goal.
- Round of 16 season 2017-2018 Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona, Messi scored 1 goal
- Group 2018-2019 season stage Tottenham Hotspur 2-4 Barcelona, Messi scored 2 goals.
-RDS-
