3 Reasons Lionel Messi Is to Blame for Barca's Shocking Champions League Loss

Without doubt, Chelsea's recent Champions League win over hot favorites Barcelona is one of the greatest upsets in recent football history.

Lionel Messi and the rest of the merry men were expected to simply waltz through to the final and crush the Blues at both Stamford Bridge and Camp Nou.

We know now that neither happened; in fact, the very opposite and the unthinkable happened.

Barcelona lost.

The team regarded by many as the best on the planet fell at the last hurdle before the final and were bundled out of the championship—taking their claims as Europe's greatest club with them.

And whilst it is both naive to suggest that Chelsea didn't deserve the win and subsequent progression through to the final, most football commentators agree that Barcelona lost the match, rather than the Blues winning.

Full credit to Chelsea, but Barcelona lost.

Much of the finger-pointing and the blame game has fallen on coach Pep Guardiola, who has resigned as manager since their dismissal.

Yet perhaps some of that blame needs to fall also on the shoulders of the game's greatest player—Lionel Messi. Perhaps he is somewhat at fault for Barcelona's shock Champions League loss.

I'm not saying that Messi is entirely to blame, nor am I suggesting that he is the sole villain on their side.

But with many quick to come to the defense of Messi, we must be careful not to exclude him from criticism—especially when in fact he is just as responsible as any other Barcelona player for their tournament exit.

Here are three reasons why Lionel Messi is to blame for Barcelona's Champions League loss.

Missed Penalty

Let's start with the elephant in the room—Messi's missed penalty.

We all feel for the guy and we can only imagine the immense pressure and responsibility that he was feeling but at the end of the day, Leo missed the penalty.

He missed the penalty that would have won them the game.

And for that, there is nobody else to blame but Messi himself.

Chelsea's defense didn't take the penalty, Barcelona's ineffective back-line didn't take the penalty—only Messi did and he therefore is solely responsible for the resulting success or failure.

Unfortunately for Barcelona, this time it was the latter.

Costly Mistakes

Throughout the two legs of the tournament, Lionel Messi did not play to the standard that we have come to expect. He was not as effective in attack, he did not pass as well and he made costly mistakes at the wrong time.

It must be stated that a poor game by Messi's standards is still a relatively solid game by other players' standards, but the point remains the same—Messi simply wasn't good enough in the semi-final against Chelsea.

In the opening leg, Messi only landed one of his seven shots on target, was dispossed more than any other player on his team and ranked ninth in passing accuracy throughout his 71 passes.

In the second leg at Camp Nou, he didn't fair much better, despite hitting the post and crossbar. Messi put two of his five shots on target, was disposed the second highest amount on his team and ranked 14th in passing accuracy throughout his 89 passes.

Yup. Messi was the least accurate passer on the entire team.

Putting the picture together, his stats for the semi-final legs read as follows:

Shot accuracy: 25-percent (3 of 12 shots)

Pass accuracy: 83-percent (ranked 12th in team)

Turnovers: Ranked equal first in team

As I mentioned, for most people, this isn't that bad of a match but for Lionel Messi, in the semi-final final of the UEFA Champions League, it's pretty bad.

And for that, he must receive some of the blame for Barcelona's shock exit.

Ineffective Against Defensive Midfield

Much of this must go down to the incredible defensive effort from Chelsea, but the fact remains that throughout the two legs, Lionel Messi was, for the most part, ineffective.

A man who has netted now 77 goals and 21 assists in just 55 appearances was ineffective.

Maybe it was the fact that he's been subbed just twice in his last 10 months of football and maybe it was because of the fact that Chelsea played about eight defenders in the second leg.

But maybe Lionel Messi simply wasn't good enough for Barcelona.

As mentioned before, he only shot at 25-percent and passed at 83-percent for the two legs, and he failed to score a goal in both matches. To put that in to comparison, he has only gone scoreless in consecutive matches twice all year.

Throughout the two legs, Messi would cut inside—as he loves to do—and he wouldn't find the success that he usually does. Maybe his shot missed, maybe his pass was intercepted—either way, he wasn't effective enough for Barcelona.

And when the final score reads: Fernando Torres 1, Lionel Messi 0, maybe it's time to concede that the world's greatest footballer simply wasn't at his best and rightly deserves some of the blame for Barcelona's shock loss in the UEFA Champions League.

Maybe.

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