Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona: Luis Enrique Talks Lionel Messi After UCL Defeat

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has jumped to the defence of Lionel Messi after the forward endured a quiet outing in Wednesday's 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid, a result that sealed the Blaugrana's quarter-final exit.  

Messi was one of numerous Barcelona players who failed to produce their finest at the Vicente Calderon, but Enrique deemed it wrong to put blame on individual performances, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan:

Antoine Griezmann scored a superb header in the 36th minute before converting a penalty with two minutes remaining to seal the tie, two moments Barca were hard-pressed to prevent.

Enrique was then asked who was to shoulder the blame if not Messi. He replied that, as manager, he was the one to look at as the chief cause behind Barca's defeat:

Of course, that wouldn't be doing Atletico or their manager, Diego Simeone, a service. After all, the Argentinian manager continues to prove himself as one of the most effective coaches on the planet, beating Barca out of the Champions League quarters for the second time in his career.

Per Javier Miguel of the Catalan newspaper Sport, Enrique detailed what it was about Atletico's performance he thought had given them the keys to victory:

"

The team wanted to retain the title, the fans did too, but today it was not to be. We are sad, of course.

At the start I expected an Atletico Madrid who attacked more. We did not suffer, had the ball, controlled the game. They wanted to take one of their few chances, they took advantage of our mistake and got ahead on the scoreboard.

Then they did what they did best - defend in own half, they did that very well, played very complete game. We lacked more finesse.

"

Of course, one could question why Messi underperformed so badly, but then the same should be asked of attack partners Luis Suarez and Neymar, not to mention all other Barcelona playing staff.

As a result of the defeat, Barca will now be forced to eye a double instead of a treble, with Enrique's team in the final of the Copa del Rey and currently leading La Liga by three points:

The Catalan powerhouse can at least feel comfort in knowing they've got so much silverware still in their view, even if arguably the most significant of those is now off the table.

As the team talisman, Messi will be looked to as the reason behind any highs or lows, but Enrique feels no reason to look at one man for the failures of his side as a whole.