International Players

World champion and international respect belittled Lionel Messi's Barcelona

By Mauricio Saenz

"It's any team, I was not surprised by the defeat against PSG", he said harshly

"It's any team, I was not surprised by the defeat against PSG", he said harshly

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Not even the most pessimistic Barcelona fan would have imagined this team present. Away in the La Liga standings, beaten in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against PSG, and playing at a level well below expectations, criticism of the Catalan cast is a habit. In this context, an internationally recognized world champion coach with two different clubs gave his opinion about the Blaugranas, whom he only "saved" Lionel Messi.

It's about Carlos Bianchi, who achieved glory as the coach of Vélez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors, both teams from Argentina. "Barcelona is an ordinary team at the mercy of Messi. I was not surprised by the result against PSG. Barcelona is an ordinary team. You can see it in La Liga, where they are third, five behind Atlético de Madrid, which has also lost in Champions with Chelsea. They don't have a great championship this season. PSG played a great game, yes, but Barcelona is at the mercy of what Messi does", said the four-time Copa Libertadores champion.

Along the same lines, Bianchi -who had a brief experience as coach of Roma- explained where one of the keys was: "The defense! (Kylian) Mbappé against (Serginho) Dest, who is hardly an international. Then, is it (Clement) Lenglet a great central defender? Piqué hadn't played for three months ... In the second leg, if it turns out the same, PSG can score five or six goals".

To close, he referred to a possible departure of Messi from Barcelona: "I don't know what will happen, but I want to see him play. It amuses me. He is bigger, but he is capable of dribbling everyone in some games. He is still an incredible player at 33, like Cristiano Ronaldo or (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic. They are unique".

Mbappé or Haaland? Bianchi's opinion
The Viceroy, who in his days as a player knew how to be an implacable forward, was also consulted about the rivalry of the moment between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Braut Haaland and, when taking a position, he leaned towards the French but not before flattering the Norwegian. "They are strong but different. Haaland is more of a scorer than Kylian, but Kylian will be the best in the world in two or three years. He is more than a scorer. For me, he needs to evolve into a team that dominates less. I think City would not be instead, they have too much of the ball. At the end, in the last thirty meters, there is not enough room to run", he told Le Parisien.


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