I see a lot of people creating a fuss about Messi not replicating what Ronaldo did in the Champions League yesterday. Although Ronaldo has been brilliant in some of the clutch games in the Champions League and makes up for his slow start each season and yes, you have to hand him that, this claim is still absolutely absurd and erratic to begin with. Messi has been fundamental in clutch games throughout his career, for instance the brace against Real Madrid to knock them out in the semis, against AC Milan and Arsenal after losing in the first leg, against Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester United/City, Juventus, Chelsea and even Tottenham recently. You name it. Yes, the team has been knocked out in the quarter finals thrice consecutively and Yes, Messi couldn’t score in them, but it all boils down to two reasons. First, positions. Right after Iniesta and Xavi’s departures Messi has spent a large part of his career dropping in the midfield almost completely when the team is losing to make up for the loss in midfield’s creativity since 2015. The team almost expects Messi to try and supply those mesmeric diagonal lobbed passes or passes between the lines while simultaneously also score those fantastic goals out of nowhere every time the team is losing. For Cristiano, on the other hand, the job is always the same, feed him, and expect him to finish it. You don’t expect him to drop deep to create passes for Mandžukić, Dybala, Bale or even Benzema for that matter. While his position and role has always been almost indistinguishable, Messi position’s have evolved over the years. From playing as a winger, to adapting a false nine role under Pep and to ultimately playing as an Enganche (with little defensive duties) under EV (and the later stages of Luis Enrique’s tenure). It is not that complicated to comprehend that even though he is still the team’s best goal scorer and has the most goals in Europe, it isn’t him who should be expected the most to score in these situations if he is taking that role. It is the role of the other forwards to score them (in Barca’s case Suarez and the other forward) and it is more fitting especially because Messi has to adapt the role of enganche to cover up the midfield’s lack of creativity. Truth however being that the man’s extraterrestrial abilities culminates the real nature of him being an out and out enganche and gives the pseudo image of him being an attacker. Second reason being, priorities. It is more and more evident by the years that Cristiano and the team he is involved in save him for the crucial encounters in the Champions League and that helps him make up for the terrible start he has at the starting of the season. Whereas, Messi assumes the mantle of the team since the beginning of the season. For instance, right before the crucial match against Atlético Madrid, Massimiliano Allegri benched him in the match against Udinese which the Bianconeri saw out comfortably with a 4-1 win. EV however fielded out Messi for the whole 90 minutes against Rayo Vallecano knowing about the all important match against Lyon (as he did before Roma). This elaborates the player’s and the team’s priorities and is also another reason why both the players have a a different footballing dimensional season-wise. Saying that, I hope the man’s profound abilities again proves the ones that are doubting him wrong because he isn’t to be judged by the aspects that make other players shine in. We know what he has done in the past and what he promised for this season, and I would dare not underestimate him. Over to you Leo.