Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Champions League, Chelsea, Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech, Football
Luke Davies
Topics: Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Champions League, Chelsea, Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech, Football
Lionel Messi cried in the dressing room after losing a Champions League game, according to a former teammate.
Messi, 37, has had more highs than lows during his trophy-laden career, having won 46 team trophies.
However, on the odd occasion, things have not gone as well as Messi may have liked.
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The 2014 World Cup final defeat to Germany will have undoubtedly been one of the Argentinian’s lowest points during his football career.
But a former teammate revealed that it was, in fact, after a Barcelona game that the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner could not contain his emotions.
The Argentinian finished 2012 with a career-best tally of 91 goals, but his contributions were not enough to help Barca to the 2012 Champions League final.
The Catalans were dumped out by Chelsea in an extraordinary semi-final clash, losing 3-2 on aggregate at the Camp Nou, despite the Blues playing much of the game with ten men after captain John Terry was sent off for an off-the-ball challenge on Alexis Sanchez.
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"In the Barcelona dressing room after the Chelsea game, I saw Leo [Messi] cry," Sanchez told Sky Sports in 2018.
"That's because players demand so much from themselves. People don't see that."
Messi saw his 49th-minute penalty crash off Petr Cech’s crossbar with the scores level at 2-2 on aggregate (Chelsea had the away goals advantage).
With Chelsea already heading through, Fernando Torres sealed the victory in stoppage time to stun the Barcelona fans.
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Messi admitted that the penalty miss was something that he was “hurting” from in July 2012.
"I am still hurting from losing the semi-final against Chelsea with the penalty I missed, and La Liga with the defeat to Madrid at Nou Camp," he said [quotes via BBC Sport].
"They are both thorns in our side. But last season is now history.”
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Of course, it is safe to say that the 37-year-old put the disappointment behind him, eventually putting the wrongs of 2012 right by helping Barcelona to the 2015 Champions League final victory over Juventus in Berlin, which was his fourth and final European triumph with the club.