Former Man United coach Louis van Gaal has shot Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi and explained why the Argentinian has not been able to celebrate a Champions League title for a long time.
“He’s the best single player in the world, as his numbers show. But why hasn’t he won the premier class in the last five years,” the Dutch coach told El Pais about Messi, whom he sees as a problem for the Catalans.
“I believe that the team player is the most important actor. Barca suffers from it. Messi should ask himself how it can be that he has to wait so long for the next CL title,” continued the 67-year-old.
According to van Gaal, Messi is the main reason why Barca hasn’t been getting much together on the European stage lately.
“They have a squad of 30 players and it’s actually a good thing that Messi adapts to the team and not the other way around,” the Dutchman added, “I think it’s not just the coach who’s to blame for the failure in the CL, but Messi as well.
Last season, Barca failed to beat Liverpool in the semi-finals despite a 3-0 lead from the first leg. At Anfield Road, the Reds cut Messi and Co. apart 4-0.
So far, the 32-year-old Messi has won four Champions League titles. After 2006, 2009 and 2011, he last won the Henkel pot in 2015.
