“Decisive” Messi proves worth to Barça as well as Argentina

Tuesday, 3 April 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Barcelona (Reuters): Lionel Messi’s late heroics against Sevilla to snatch a 2-2 draw for Barcelona on Saturday showed it is not just Argentina who have an unhealthy over-reliance on the brilliance of the five-time World Player of the Year.

Messi was forced to watch his country’s humiliating 6-1 defeat by Spain on Tuesday from the stands due to continued muscle discomfort, and as he sat in the dugout watching Barça fall two goals behind to sixth-placed Sevilla, he may have reflected on how much his club also seems to rely on him.

Messi’s 89th-minute leveller means Barça are still unbeaten in La Liga and Champions League, but they looked glaringly vulnerable when their leader was not on the pitch.

Defender Umtiti made it easy for Franco Vazquez to give Sevilla the lead as he left the midfielder unmarked in the area, and the Frenchman was also slow to react in the lead-up to the second goal, scored by Muriel on the rebound.

The damage could have been far greater had the home side not been so wasteful in attack, while Barça rarely looked like striking down the other end until Messi came off the bench to replace Dembélé in the 58th minute.

“Every time he touches the ball, he is decisive, but we all knew that already,” said Barça coach Ernesto Valverde, who could not help but bring up what happened to Argentina against Spain while Messi was absent.

“Every team would be different with or without Messi, and I won’t mention what happened a few days ago,” Valverde added. “We had planned for him to play even though he still has a bit of discomfort. He had gone a bit of time without playing and he needed to play.”

Barça were immediately lifted by the mere presence of their all-time top scorer. Moments after he entered the fray as a substitute, Suarez hit the post before Rakitic struck the same post.

Suarez pulled a goal back in the 88th minute and 57 seconds later, Messi met a cutback from Coutinho for the first time, smashing the ball under the grasp of Sevilla goalkeeper Rico and salvaging Barça’s long unbeaten league run, which was stretched to 37 games, one shy of a La Liga record.