Big teams haven't figured us out, the teams that knocked us out recently are Juventus, Atletico and Roma. We have played Juve 5 times recently, 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat which is pretty good against one of the 4 or 5 best teams in Europe. Real have also played them 5 times in that period and have 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats so pretty similar but our record is slightly better.
We beat Atletico regularly and Messi has scored against them more than any other player, they haven't figured us out. But if you play one of the best teams in Europe as often as we play Atletico then you are going to lose once in a while and that's what happened in the Champions League. Our record against them in Europe is 1 win, 1 draw and 2 defeats but domestically then haven't beaten us in about 20 attempts.
The Roma game was pure complacency,we thought it was won and didn't prepare properly, I have no doubt that if we had that game again we would beat them.
So aside from those 3 teams, how have the best in Europe figured us out? They haven't, we are missing a few details but Messi is not the problem at all. Our midfield offers no creativity and can't control the game, which means Messi has to go back and pick up the ball away from the penalty area, if we can fix that problem then I think we become legitimate contender for the Champions League again.
It was replied a lot of times::
If we'll play Atletico in La Liga or CDR, we'll probably win in 8-9 times out of 10.
If we'll play them in a CL we'll lose every time, usually even without scoring a goal, especially in an away match.
Some of you seem as if you don't want to accept that thing how:
Barca is good in La liga where there is no pressure of being knocked out the same night out of competition. (Look at Messi's face yesterday before a match. Is he that nervous against Getafe and in CDR matches, lol?)
Because of that, our players are relaxed since they know that even if they'll lose, they will win the next few matches and fix that defeat in La liga.
It seems that both Barca and Messi are fine with that sort of "lower pressure" and we play well and freely in these circumstances.
But when we face the same team in a CL, we turn into a scared team and they play with 120%.
It happened way too often that we win 5 times in a row against AM in La liga and CDR only to be heavily defeated and being invisible and without any ideas in a CL.
The same about Juve.
Fine, we won in that final.
After that we played 0:3 and 0:0, Messi has been easily neutralized and we didn't score any goals.
After that, we won in CL group stage (lol) where stakes are again lower. Guess what? we played relaxed and freely then.
So, please, realize that Barca and Messi have problems with big CL knockout rounds matches.
While we are safe and in a comfort zone in LA liga, Cdr and group stage of a CL.
Our last 6 years, 5 CL defeats:
Bayern 0:4, 0:3
Atletico 1:1, 0:1
Atletico 2:1 (2 goals scored after AM's red card), 0:2
(Psg 0:4)
Juventus 0:3, 0:0
Roma 4:1 (own goals), 0:3
** Now I see, in our last 6 years in CL's defeats, out of 10 matches, we didn't score a single goal in 7 matches.
We scored goals against Roma at home.
And 2 goals against AM at home, AFTER a red card.
And 1 against AM in 2014.
We were clueless and neutralized during 11 vs 11.
So, to some extent, in our last 5 CL's exits, we haven't scored in 8 out of 10 matches.
That says something about whether we are figured out any Messi being neutralized by big teams.
More or less, in ANY single of these matches (except Roma 4:1), Messi was easily neutralized and then our teams sucked and lacked ideas since we rely mostly on him.
This is not attack on Messi.
More like a post: Messi is older. He can't do wonders in every match anymore.
We need 2-3 other players to take courage and leadership and to step up.
Our midfield offers no creativity and can't control the game, which means Messi has to go back and pick up the ball away from the penalty area, if we can fix that problem then I think we become legitimate contender for the Champions League again.
I see, this will be a new: we need more technical midfielders to control the game.
On the other hand, maybe we are losing against AM, Juve, Roma and similar because we can't do shit all around the pitch in getting the ball back since we have too light players?
3 attackers are not defending.
2 out of 3 midfielders were physically weak, slow and often tired.
Maybe Thiago alone won't solve anything, as long as 5 players are barely defending, pressing and running.
A few nice passes from a new midfielder won't turn Messi/Luis/Dembele into better defenders on a CL level against thugs.
It is not that simple.