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Revealed
What a mess

Lionel Messi suffers a nine-year low number of touches for Barcelona in their humiliating 4-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain

LIONEL MESSI suffered undoubtedly one of the biggest no-show performances of his career last night as Barcelona were obliterated by Paris Saint-Germain.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner could be seen jogging around the pitch after losing the ball last night as he gave the ball away and simply failed to connect with his team-mates.

Messi was far from the only Barcelona player to have an absolute stinker at the Parc des Princes - but given the heights he has scaled in the Champions League, he was undoubtedly the biggest underperformer.


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It could not have been a starker contrast to the match played by Angel di Maria - as the former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward terrorised the Barcelona defence.

His Argentina team-mate surged forward with electric speed and sucked in ball-watching Barca defenders as he netted a free-kick and later another curling beauty.

 Lionel Messi was cut down to a mere mortal as Barcelona were humbled 4-0 in Paris
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Lionel Messi was cut down to a mere mortal as Barcelona were humbled 4-0 in ParisCredit: Getty Images
 Lionel Messi's Argentina team-mate Angel Di Maria had one of his best games in years
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Lionel Messi's Argentina team-mate Angel Di Maria had one of his best games in yearsCredit: Getty Images
 Andres Iniesta was another player who had a terrible game in Paris
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Andres Iniesta was another player who had a terrible game in ParisCredit: Reuters

But as for Messi, 29, the fact that he failed to register a single touch in the opposition's penalty area said everything you needed to know about the quality of his game.

As Opta stats have shown, if that is the case, it usually means that the Barcelona metronome is not ticking as it usually should be.

Messi played 37 passes in the game and only 28 of them were successful. He twice gave the ball away in the centre circle, an uncommon sight for the Argentinian superstar.

Meanwhile it was Andres Iniesta that got hauled off my Luis Enrique, with Barca already four goals down.

Of all the incredible things the Spaniard has achieved in his career, that must have surely been an all-time low moment.

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