Barcelona’s talismanic Lionel Messi remains the driving
force of a talented side on the brink of repeating 2009’s historic
treble despite a change in their coach and style of football, not to
mention a host of players.
The Catalan giants already have the
Primera Liga title and the King’s Cup in the bag and their focus is now
on Saturday’s Champions League final against Juventus in Berlin.
Messi
was described as unstoppable by former Barca coach Pep Guardiola, whose
Bayern Munich side were eliminated by the Spaniards in the semi-finals,
and similar superlatives have been used by others tasked with trying to
thwart the South American genius.
•FLASHBACK…. Messi celebrates winning his third Champions League in 2011. He is bidding for a fourth in Berlin tomorrow.
After
a disappointing 2014, when Messi failed in his mission to win the World
Cup for Argentina and often looked distant and uninterested on the
pitch, he is once again playing with a smile on his face.
He
put Barca on course to win the King’s Cup last weekend with the opening
goal, the first of a double, which will go down among the best he has
ever scored, when he left four players trailing in his wake with a mazy
run.
If Barcelona are victorious this weekend in Berlin
they will have overcome last year’s French, English, German and Italian
Champions to lift the trophy. Messi on the other hand would be
celebrating his fourth champions League cup victory. So to win it for a
fourth time and to play a major role in a third victory will take Messi
to another level.
Meanwhile, Juventus boss Massimiliano
Allegri has revealed that he does not have anything up his sleeve for
Messi in Saturday’s final.
Allegri, whose Juve side are
underdogs for the crown, feels that dedicating time and energy to
combating Messi would prove a futile gesture when his teammates are
similarly as lethal.
“To man-mark Messi is almost
impossible, we just need to do a good job and work around him. But
besides limiting Messi, Barca have Neymar and Luis Suarez,” he told the
club’s official website.
“They have so many technical
players that we will need to play a game with a lot of courage, knowing
that we will have difficult times during the match and moments where we
will have opportunities.
“We just have one more game and we need to be clever and bring home the trophy. We also need to be fortunate.”
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