LIONEL MESSI HAS vowed to stay at the club and play through the disappointment of Barcelona’s second-straight dramatic Champions League exit ahead of this weekend’s Copa del Rey final.
Leading the semi-final tie 3-0 from the first leg in the Camp Nou, the La Liga champions were odds-on favourites to progress to next month’s final in Madrid – only for Liverpool to complete a remarkable comeback and win the game 4-0.
It was the second straight season Barca crumbled from a three-goal advantage in the Champions League, having stumbled to Roma last term in the quarter-final stage.
The painful aggregate defeat meant Ernesto Valverde’s men have had to settle for domestic success this season, which they’ll hope to add to in Seville when they face Valencia on Saturday night.
Seeking a second straight domestic double, Messi insisted that his appetite for success has not altered despite Barca’s spectacular semi-final collapse against Liverpool earlier this month.
“I still want to be here, beyond the disappointment,” Messi said ahead of the Estadio Benito Villamarin clash.
“I also had them (disappointments) with the Argentine national team and I keep trying. The fact that we have had disappointments does not change anything.”
“They are two different things. Losing a World Cup final (against Germany in 2014) is the most important of all, and is a big disappointment.
“But going 3-0 up and it turning around are two totally different things. It’s a very great disappointment in both – both in the World Cup and now.”
One element of the season that has lifted the 31-year-old’s spirits has been wearing the captain’s armband for Barcelona.
And the club’s all-time leading goalscorer claimed that if the Liverpool debacle is removed from the equation, the Spanish champions have enjoyed another successful campaign.
Messi added: “Wearing the armband? It was a spectacular year for me where we won La Liga, we’re in the cup final, and we could lift three titles.
“Taking away the game that spoiled it all, I think we had a great year.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
The difference in being placed in pot 2 to pot 3 is huge.
Obliviously one is called pot two the other pot three.cant get anymore different than that
*Obviously
Damn auto correct!!
Main point being that nearly all the teams in pot 3 are better than us. How the hell did we rank above them?
@Fin Tastic. These qualifiers are based on previous Euro qualifying campaigns. Generally we have a better record than the teams in pot 3 for the Euros. Qualifying for 2012 has made the biggest difference here.
How Ireland are a pot 2 team is beyond me.most of the Pot 3 teams are far better than ireland.
It’s 40% based on the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, 40% based on the entire euro 2012 campaign (including the finals) and 20% based on the 2010 World Cup campaign (also including the finals). You get bonus points for playing in playoffs and for making the finals, so both the France playoff in 2009, the Estonia one in 2011 and the finals appearance in 2012 earned us bonus points. That’s why we’re second seeds.
Bad news is FIFA use a totally different system and things are so bad we could be fifth seeds for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers if we don’t buck up our act.
@Finn Maccul ehh no, most of pot 3 are not etter than us, two are, perhaps three.
“better”
… because Romania lost their play-off and that kept us in pot 2 by the skin of our teeth.
Some of the pot 4 teams would give us a run for our money home and away in a qualifying group!
Spot on Mick . If we’re going to be honest about this we belong in Pot 4. It’s all part of the painful process of recognizing the problem before the healing begins. It should come as no surprise to anyone if we do not qualify .
Agree, Gerry. But I’m a little more hopful this time around. All the Trap stuff aside – with anyone managing – we were always going to be fighting for third or fourth place with Austria once Germany and Sweden came out in the World Cup qualifying group.
My hope is that the new management team instill some vigour and edge on the players and we get a kind draw – then we have a decent chance under the new expanded system of qualification.
But you are right, at best, we are really a fourth tier seeded nation.
The seedings are always messed up between FIFA and UEFA, just look where Iceland are!
Got my fingers crossed for:
Greece
Us
Norway
Latvia
Moldova
Gibraltar
About as do-able a group as we can get. COYBIG!
Would love an away trip to Gibraltar.
You’d actually be going to Portugal as the Gibraltar national stadium has to be rebuilt or improved to meet UEFA guidelines. Close enough I guess :P
Expect:
Spain
us
Turkey
Poland
Iceland
Kazakhstan
I think gibraltar are in with a good shout of winning it.They’ve come a long way in the last 3 months and have some top quality players.I’ll be throwing a few hundred on them anyway!
I don’t know, I’m putting my yearly wages up for a Liechtenstein vs San Marino EURO final.
Their defence is a rock
The odds look good for us- 23 out of 53 teams qualify- 1st and 2nd in every group automatically qualify and even after that there are still 5 places up for grabs through best runner up and playoffs. Fingers crossed
If we don’t qualify we need to stop playing football!
Need to stop laying foreign games and sending our hard earned cash to England to pay woman abusing drug addict Wendy ball players.
Says the guy sporting a Celtic Jersey.
Whoa, Gibraltar are now in UEFA? That’s news to me.
Fingers crossed for years lads…
We’re going to win the euros!
I don’t know, whole of Europe is gone to pot.
I wouldn’t like to be in the same group as the North.
Ideal group…
Bosnia,
Ireland,
Slovakia,
Estonia,
N. Ireland,
San Marino
Won’t make euro 16 anyway pot 1 or pot 5 makes no difference.
Euro 16 or Hill 16.
Better not say anymore I might get bitten
Would love to draw Northern Ireland. They’re even more useless than we are. Didn’t they lose recently to the mighty Luxembourg?
Maybe they are but anything can happen in a derby.
Maybe a derby game with two teams in the same league. But we are miles better than them with better players. We hammered the Nordies 5-0 in the Carling Nations Cup.
The best outcome might be (something of a Euro-Eastern adventure):
Bosnia
Ireland
Montenegro
Belarus
Georgia
San Marino
The nightmare might be:
Spain
Ireland
Serbia
Poland
Iceland
Kazakhstan
There should be an alternative Euro’s between Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino & Gibraltar.
….who’s your money on?