Barcelona’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League in 2019 was one of the worst nights of Lionel Messi’s career.Months after the collapse at Anfield, the Argentinian forward admitted the impact that it had on the Catalans was profound."It was strange," he told fifa.com in an interview, per the Standard. "We were having a fantastic season as a team and then one match changed it all."It was such a massive disappointment that we just didn’t attach any importance to the league and we didn’t prepare properly for the Copa del Rey final."That’s how big a blow it was for us. That one game left its mark on a season that had been perfect up to then. We were so close to making another Champions League final, but it ended up being a painful campaign for us."
Things got even worse for Messi
Yet as embarrassing as the defeat was for Messi, it’s easy to forget that things got even worse for the then-Barcelona star afterwards.
Firstly, Messi was left at Anfield by Barcelona’s team bus as he was held by anti-doping testers at full-time according to Spanish TV channel El Chiringuito, via the Mirror.
Barcelona were in no mood to hang around, so arrangements had to be made for Messi to join up with his teammates later on. An inconvenience for him, no doubt.
Footage of a glum Messi walking through the mixed zone at Liverpool’s stadium summed up his mood.
Airpot altercation with Barcelona fans
Later on, Messi was apparently involved in an ugly altercation with angry Barcelona supporters when he arrived at Liverpool airport for the flight back.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the attacker, who signed for PSG in 2021, squared up to a small group of fans who confronted him at the security checkpoint.
Pepe Costa, Messi’s personal security guard, was forced to drag him away before the situation escalated, the report claimed.
After one of the worst defeats of his career, the last thing Messi needed was a delayed return that resulted in trouble with a set of Barcelona supporters.
Messi never would get that close to winning the Champions League again with Barcelona, the two subsequent seasons culminating in that humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in 2019/20 and a defeat to PSG in the last-16 in 2020/21.
He would love nothing more than to win the tournament with PSG.