Ahead of Juventus’ Champions League match against FC Barcelona, Andrea Pirlo revealed what he thinks Leo Messi’s problem truly is.
There has been a lot of criticism against Leo Messi but Andrea Pirlo isn’t buying any of it. Perhaps some Juventus supporters are misplacing their confidence on the Argentine’s apparently bad moment. But the Italian manager doesn’t want to get too distracted by all the outside noise. He is very aware that Messi only needs a little space and some extra motivation in order to hurt his opponents. For tomorrow’s match against Juventus, playing against Cristiano Ronaldo is a major source of motivation.
Leo’s entire career has been defined by his rivalry with the Portuguese star. Andrea Pirlo is convinced Messi hasn’t decreased his level of performance, he is simply going through a hard psychological moment. All the drama from last summer has been one of the main reasons Messi hasn’t been fully himself. Pirlo is aware of this but he won’t believe for a second it will affect Leo’s game.
Pirlo acknowledges FC Barcelona’s problems.
“[Messi] is at a special moment in his life, not in his career, because he had a problem this summer,” Pirlo told the press via Marca. “[It’s about] whether he would stay at Barcelona or not. But during games he has always shown his value. More than a football [issue], he probably has a psychological problem, but I don’t want to go into it, as it has nothing to do with us.”Messi is a phenomenon and he has shown it.”
“[Barcelona] have ups and downs, but they have played very good matches and they have a coach who is putting ideas into motion,” Pirlo added. “They are not in crisis. It will be a very difficult game because we will have to suffer, but we will have our chances and we have to take advantage of them. We have nothing to lose. We can play an open game. We are aware of the mistakes we made in the first leg.”
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