Lionel Messi and Barcelona’s miserable start to the season continued on Saturday night.They may have beaten Juventus 2-0 away from home in the Champions League in midweek but Ronald Koeman’s side failed to win their fourth consecutive La Liga match this weekend.Barca could only tie 1-1 to 10-man Alaves which follows a draw against Sevilla and defeats to Getafe and Real Madrid.And the frustrations were there for all to see.The home side took the lead in the first half through Luis Rioja but had to withstand immense pressure from Barca.Koeman’s side thought they should have had a penalty for a push on Frankie de Jong, while Messi was angered by not being given a free-kick on the edge of the area.In fact, he was so angry that he booted the ball towards referee  Alejandro Hernández, narrowly missing him. It earned him a yellow card but he was perhaps fortunate not to be sent off.p1em0cj0s6oqa1pfs1nfjubd1dcaf.jpgBut Messi might have lost his head not because of refereeing decisions but due to Alaves’ tactics whenever he lined up a free-kick.In the first half, Messi had two free-kicks right on the edge of the box and Alaves brought every single player back for both of them.The first one, they used proper FIFA tactics and put numerous defenders in front of the goal. Messi almost got it past all of them but it was blocked on the line.

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The second one featured a six-man wall with the other four outfield players in the penalty area.

Messi had no chance.

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It’s probably not surprising that he’s on something of a free-kick drought. He’s scored just one of his last 45 free-kick attempts (against Osasuna in July 2020). Before that, he had scored four in his previous 12.

After the break, it was all one-way traffic as Barca pushed for an equaliser.

When Alaves’ Jota was shown a red card in the 62nd-minute and Antoine Griezmann equalised a minute later, it looked as though there was only one winner.

But try as they might, Barca couldn’t force a winner despite Messi’s best efforts.

The result leaves them 12th with two wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening six matches.