Niall Quinn feels that it may be time from Barcelona to move on from Lionel Messi.
A week on from the 31-year-old giving a masterful performance in Barca's 3-0 win against Liverpool at the Camp Nou, he was ineffectual as Barca submitted at Anfield last night.
"As good as Messi is," the former Ireland international told Virgin Media Sport, "he is stopping other players from producing their best.
Tonight was a classic example of that. Players like Coutinho, who always want to seem to do what he needs to do.
There's a feeling around some Barcelona fans and some ex-players and pundits that Messi is causing too much negative effect on the abilities of other players.
Presenter Tommy Martin suggested that when Neymar was at Barcelona, he had the ego to do his own thing. The Brazilian ultimately left as he no longer wanted to play second fiddle to Messi.
"Those who have stayed have played the Messi way - always looking for Messi," said Quinn.
"When it looks good, it's good and Messi gets all the plaudits. You've got a player there like Coutinho who when he was at Liverpool excelled at times, looked a brilliant player. In those two games, he looked a pale shadow of himself and just want to tip the ball to Messi all the time and I think that's rampant.
"It may be the time for Barcelona to look elsewhere."
ICYMI last night, Niall Quinn made a BIG claim about Lionel Messi...#LIVBAR #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/0eGRT3Uz07
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) May 8, 2019
Picture credit: Sportsfile
