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Lionel Messi red-faced as Champions League PROMISE backfires in Liverpool calamity
LIONEL MESSI promised Barcelona fans in August last year that he and his team-mates would do “everything possible” to win the Champions League.
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Barcelona dramatically crashed out of the Champions League last night in a chastening 4-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.
Carrying a 3-0 lead into the second leg, Barcelona were undone early on by Divock Origi who, after a quickfire brace from Georginio Wijnaldum, 72 minutes later scored the goal that sealed Liverpool’s spot in the final.
The nature of the Frenchman’s second strike enraged Barcelona fans, as Trent Alexander-Arnold took a quick corner which hoodwinked the defence.
The harrowing defeat meant Barcelona let slip a three-goal lead for the second successive year in the competition and left talisman Messi distraught.
The Argentine was obsessed with bringing back the big-eared trophy to Catalonia, as he outlined nine months prior in an address to the Nou Camp faithful.
"Regarding this year, I think we have set a platform to get excited,” Messi said before the first La Liga game of the 2018/19 campaign.
“The signings that came will help us a lot to be better than we were.
"Although last year we won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, we all got stung in the Champions League.
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"We promise that we will do everything possible so that this beautiful cup returns to the Camp Nou again."
Barcelona last won the competition in 2015 but, with the manner of their last two defeats, have now developed an unhealthy relationship with Europe’s elite club competition.
The fourth Liverpool goal certainly did not suggest the players did “everything possible” to make the final, and the loss left Messi in a heap.
He did not speak to the press following the match and reportedly left the stadium in tears.
Things ostensibly got worse for the 31-year-old as he was about to fly back to Barcelona.
Mundo Deportivo are reporting that Messi was restrained by security guards after trying to square up to disparaging Barcelona fans at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport.
It is reported that the incident took place around midnight following a late arrival to the airport, which occurred as a result of a random UEFA anti-doping test.