Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini has dismissed talk that he was set to become the Monaco boss at the end of last season, reacting angrily to questioning at his most recent press conference.
The Italian was keen to focus on the present rather than focusing on events that may have happened in the past.
Mancini had not previously denied reports linking him with the Ligue 2 club saying he was “close to seven or eight teams”.
That remark had been interpreted in a various amount of ways following the strange admission from the 47 year old.
He gave no indication as to whether the comment was serious, or made in jest, and he was asked to further clarify in Monday’s press conference.
However, the former Inter Milan boss did not welcome the questioning seeing it as highly unnecessary.
Mancini told Sky Sports “I don’t understand why you continue to ask me (about) last year, last month. This is finished.
“Why? Why, for which reason? Why do you continue to ask me, ‘Last year you had a chance to go’?
“I stay here because my work is here. I worked for two years. I built with the chairman and the owner, this team. We won three trophies in two years. For 50 years we didn’t win. Never.”
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City are looking to resurrect their Champions League campaign tomorrow, when they take on Ajax at the Etihad stadium, knowing that only 3 points will ensure that they survive in the competition for the next round of games.
Tottenham Hotspur duo Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey both moved to White Hart Lane in the summer when it looked all but assured at various points in the transfer window that switches to Anfield under new boss Brendan Rodgers were a mere formality – but given their respective struggles of late, have Liverpool FC dodged a bullet?
Make no bones about it, the summer transfer window was a disastrous one for the Merseyside club, with Rodgers repeatedly bemoaning his ‘thin’ squad and talking of ‘operational issues’ getting in the way of him completing deals. Having let the likes of Maxi Rodriguez, Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt leave, it was the move which allowed Andy Carroll to move on deadline day without a guaranteed replacement lined up which exposed the truly fragility and worrying lack of depth in the team’s forward ranks, with Luis Suarez carrying them at the moment.
However, the two situations were themselves very different involving the players concerned here – Sigurdsson chose Tottenham in a straight fight between the two clubs, while the money men at Liverpool refused to pay more than the pitiful amount of £3.5m for Dempsey due to concerns over his age, paving the way for an 11th hour move from Villas-Boas, even if you suspect the American would have preferred the move to Anfield given the choice.
It has to be said that Rodgers appears to have gone back in a serious way on his ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Swansea on more than one occasion. Not only did he go back in for Joe Allen later on in the summer, but admitting his interest while simultaneously stating that the Welsh club had first dibs on Sigurdsson was tantamount to torpedoing the move on purpose, and that the Icelandic international eventually turned him down must have pleased chairman Huw Jenkins no end.
Rodgers spoke to the press in the wake of the Sigurdsson snub, hinting that money may have been a motivating factor.
“We agreed a deal for him to go to Swansea and that was wrapped up. I then became the Liverpool manager and that then wasn’t something that was going to happen at Swansea so he then had a choice of where he wanted to go,” Rodgers said.
“I knew what the market was and I wasn’t prepared to pay anything over what I had known was agreed before. Liverpool would have provided Gylfi with a wonderful opportunity to perform with a manager that he knows and at a club which is a real footballing institution.
“But he’s decided to go to Tottenham, for whatever reason.”
It became clear that in his preferred 4-3-3 system, Rodgers had doubts about Gerrard’s role at the tip of the triumvirate, which has since been temporarily solved by Lucas’ injury absence. But the club’s pursuit of both Dempsey and Sigurdsson hints that he had reservations about the England captain having the legs that the position requires – to both join in with the midfield on the back foot and help link up with the lone striker when the side does have the ball.
I argued at the time that the move was a questionable one on Sigurdsson’s part, simply because with a new manager, and it being somewhat unclear whether he was bought by Daniel Levy or Villas-Boas, probably the former, that he had a long-term future at White Hart Lane. The need for reinvesting in that area was made even more of a top priority in the aftermath of the departures of both Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart.
My main worry was that given that they’ve already brought in Moussa Dembele to great success and tried to sign Joao Moutinho as well, does Sigurdsson really fit into the team’s starting XI? Factor in the fact that Sandro is almost undroppable at the moment and you simply can’t imagine the attacking midfielder commanding a regular spot by the end of the season, let alone in two or three years time, which you certainly could at Liverpool. On the player’s part, it was an astoundingly short-sighted decision.
There’s a feeling that unless he’s scoring goals, Sigurdsson doesn’t really contribute all that much to the team’s overall standard of play; he’s not especially involved in build-up play, nor does he possess a wide range of passing and there are signs already that he’s regarded as little more than a squad player to be rotated in Europe – even though he’s been involved in all 10 of the team’s league games so far this season, he’s started just five of them.
Moving on to Dempsey and Fenway Sports Group’s reluctance to part ways with more than £3.5m for him only helps to highlight the financial constraints placed on Rodgers, particularly when you consider the free-spending days of Kenny Dalglish just a year before and the fact that they had already sold Charlie Adam to Stoke earlier in the day for £4m. It has been estimated that Rodgers removed approximately £8m from Liverpool’s wage bill in the final 24 hours of the transfer window, which when you factor in that the club must have received a healthy loan fee for Andy Carroll too and it makes the value placed on Dempsey even more stark.
It had already been reported that Dempsey had turned down a move to Aston Villa earlier in the day and he seemed extremely keen to move to Liverpool. Nevertheless, with Emmanuel Adebayor lacking any sort of pre-season and with predecessor Harry Redknapp having left the balance of the squad in quite frankly appalling state with only one senior forward to select in Jermain Defoe, a move for a utility forward was essential for Tottenham’s strength in depth.
After an anonymous performance against Premier League champions Manchester City at the weekend, though, and a somewhat steady but hardly spectacular start to life in north London, Dempsey has come in for some criticism of late. When you factor in his own lack of pre-season, the slow start is understandable and he’s certainly got a role to play in the coming months, but I have to say that I’m not too sure he’d have been any better off at Liverpool, even though they could certainly do with the extra body up top.
At Fulham, Dempsey lacked a clearly defined role and in a 4-3-3, he lacks the pace or guile to play either wide on the left or right and behind the lone front-man is about 10-15 yards deeper than the position he occupied at Craven Cottage last season when he struck 17 league goals.
The demands of playing for a club like Fulham and one like Tottenham or Liverpool are completely different – teams set up to play with men behind the ball, away from home at least, against the aforementioned two teams, but are more likely to go toe-to-toe with Martin Jol’s side, meaning there’s more space in behind the opposition’s midfield for Dempsey to exploit and there’s a distinct lack of expectation playing for the west London outfit.
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This all points towards an influential role for the forward in one environment and a reduced one in another, but with the side competing in Europe still, and with Adebayor still finding his feet, he’s likely to be a key role in the coming months, much more so than Sigurdsson.
It may be considered churlish to state that Liverpool enjoyed a lucky escape on both transfers for I feel that Sigurdsson could have made a real impact at Anfield in a side short on goals, while Dempsey, considering Rodgers’ system, always looked to be a square peg in a round hole.
The American certainly has more to contribute at White Hart Lane in the short, medium and long term in my eyes and the supporters should be patient, but should Sigurdsson continue to be marginalised, which will only continue with the increased investment in that area of the pitch, he has only himself to blame for a questionable decision which could harm his career.
Anyone who has been to a live football match will no doubt have heard another individual – 0r a group of individuals – chanting abuse, racist or not, towards a player or opposing fans.
If you haven’t, then you are one of the lucky ones because we all know it has become a regular occurrence within the game and something that has been highlighted recently in the Premier League.
The news that a small minority of West Ham fans were singing songs about Hitler and making reference to the appalling violent experience Tottenham fans had in Rome last week in their London derby on Sunday have been met with disgust throughout the world of English football, and rightly so.
But we all know that it is not the first time such abuse has taken place and I think we can all agree that it won’t be the last. But why?
In an age where we are regularly preached to about respect, equality and how lucky we are to lead such lives when others were not so fortunate in the past, there still seems to be some morons who think it is right and funny to continue making light of what is a serious issue which is still yet to be properly addressed in football and, more importantly, in life.
We all know about the huge racism issue in the Premier League recently and the soft punishment the FA handed John Terry after he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. A four-match ban was simply not enough, especially when you consider Luis Suarez’s eight-match ban for his racially abusive comments towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
The FA’s lack of consistency of dealing with such issues has not done them any favours in attempting to make an example of those guilty and show the world of football, both fans and players, that they will not tolerate any kind of behaviour that discriminates others.
One question that may be raised is whether the FA’s leniency on the punishment of John Terry has led to some simple minded fans believing that if it’s alright for the footballers to be getting away lightly with it, they can too. I wouldn’t put it past the fans who have already been punished for racist behaviour in the stands to have had that mind set when acting irresponsibly. Besides, they could argue that it’s a case of one rule for those on the pitch and one for those off it.
But we all know that it isn’t just at football grounds that this kind of abuse occurs. Twitter is regularly used as another platform for people to vent their anger and ignorant views towards high profile names within the sport, even before the Suarez and Terry cases.
The FA are powerless to stop what happens on the social networking site, which leaves the police with the unenviable task of punishing the keyboard warriors who think it is right to racially abuse or send death threats to the likes of TalkSport pundit Stan Collymore or West Ham’s Carlton Cole.
We have seen several Twitter users fined and even jailed for discriminatory tweets, and the police should be praised for taking a stand against these perpetrators. But it still happens and, sadly, it always will because the world will always have people who are either ill-educated and/or ignorant.
West Ham’s decision to ban a season ticket holder for life following the events at White Hart Lane on Sunday has been met with praise because, not only have they eliminated one ignorant football fan from attending any more of their games, they have also given out a strong message that the club will not tolerate its supporters behaving in such a disgusting way. However, many people have questioned why John Terry and Luis Suarez were not also handed life bans from the sport – which is the crux of the problem.
But what the FA need to do now is ban that particular fan from every football ground in the country, thus giving him no chance of ever polluting a single stadium again – something the sport desperately needs. It is a hard punishment to put in place, but one that they must try their hardest to implement. Face recognition cameras at every Premier League ground would be an effective deterrent, stopping banned supporters buying tickets under false names, which we all know happens already.
With football playing such an important role in the lives of thousands of people across the country, there will be many that refrain from acting irresponsibly in the fear of being caught and banned from football for life not just by their own club, but by the FA. Just the thought of that ever happening to me is difficult to take, but so is being racially abusive and anti-Semitic.
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The fact of the matter is that the FA, the police and football clubs must continue to work together and impose the hardest, most severe, punishments possible to rid the beautiful game of such abuse so that the majority can enjoy the sport for what it is, rather than have to regularly discuss how we are witnessing it being dragged through the gutter time and time again.
If every club in England acted as quickly and as strongly as West Ham have done then we would be heading in the right direction, but it is also up to the FA to follow suit and get themselves involved before it’s too late.
We will never rid the world of morons, but we can do our best to rid the sport of them.
What do you think? Is the FA failing to make a good enough example of the perpetrators, or should the police and clubs be the ones who do the punishing? Have they sent out the wrong message with lenient punishments for players?
What does it take to make it to the very top of the beautiful game? A velcro first touch? Great awareness? An array of both pace and power? If you were to make a basic shopping list of attributes an aspiring young pro might need to enjoy a successful career in the Premier League, then you could do worse than pick from any of the above.
Yet while your work ethic and your persona aren’t likely to score a 30-yard missile anytime soon, one should never underestimate the effect what’s going on inside your noggin can have upon your career.
They say that potential counts for nothing if left unfulfilled. And be it through a lack of work ethic, lobster tanks, or the simulated celebration of taking Class A drugs, here are 10 men who are living evidence to that sentiment. Sit back, click through and rejoice in their failure if it makes you happy.
Click on Robbie Fowler to see the ten most unfulfilled talents in football
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While Andre Villas-Boas may have not re-invented the wheel with his omission of Jan Vertonghen from the Tottenham Hotspur line up on Saturday, he certainly went a long way to reminding supporters about one of the great-lost arts of a Premier League season.
Indeed, following the announcement of the Spurs side yesterday and the rather looming hole that the big Belgian’s name left amongst it, some were initially left almost aghast. Sunderland away, big festive fixture and the manager has left his best defender on the bench? Is AVB tinkering with the backline again? AVB out?
Of course, far from dropping Vertonghen for yesterday’s trip to the Stadium of Light, the Portuguese was in fact resting the ex-Ajax man. Yet what would Spurs supporters remember about rotation?
Taking the tongue firmly out of cheek, supporters in the white half of North London are perhaps more detached than most when it comes to witnessing one of their first team players miss a game besides the medium of injury and suspension.
While some are weary of the continued jibes still aimed at Harry Redknapp since he left the club in the summer, for all the gripes that some supporters carried towards the now QPR boss, it was his seeming reluctance to rest his most important players that many viewed as his biggest failing. And although the popular belief is that Redknapp’s flirtations with the England job preempted the side’s spectacular capitulation during the second half of last season, the abject lack of anything resembling squad rotation may have played just as big a part.
As Spurs entered the back end of the 2011-12 season, they did so with a first XI that had played an awful lot of football with not much resembling the way of rest. While the squad’s fitness over the course of 38 games saw nothing like the sort of injury problems Villas-Boas has had to deal with this term, the lack of major injuries seemed to transcend into an excuse to play the same players week in, week out.
The old adage of playing your best team when fit may fill many with nostalgia, but during a top-flight season in this day and age, that simply isn’t the case anymore. The Premier League is an unforgiving beast and while supporters are filling their boots with the unrelenting festive fixture list, somewhere along the line, it will eventually catch up with the players. And it didn’t half catch up with Spurs last term.
Kyle Walker still hasn’t got over his slump he endured towards the end of last term, but after playing all but one league game at the age of 21, is that necessarily a huge surprise? Maybe not this term, but last term it certainly wasn’t.
Even by his own high standards, Scott Parker seemed to run out of steam from February onwards, but he wasn’t given a minute’s rest since making his debut against Wolves last September. In hindsight considering his age and style of play, were his proceeding late season injury issues a coincidence, or an accident waiting to happen? Furthermore, the talismanic pairing of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric missed only four games between them last term. When Tottenham started to press the self-destruct button, the pair didn’t seem to have enough in the tank to try and change the side’s fate.
Yes, it’s all very well speculating over what might and might not have been last term and what’s done now is done – besides, Villas-Boas has only taken to resting one or two of his defenders in recent days, hardly the entire squad.
Although these are the things that can ultimately make a difference to the Lilywhites come the end of the season. Rotating his centre halves as he has done with Vertonghen, Steven Caulker, William Gallas, and Michael Dawson in recent days may seem like common sense, but it’s something we’ve rarely seen at White Hart Lane in recent days.
Villas-Boas is keeping his backline fresh, fit and ready; with a home game against Reading coming up, the Portuguese has timed it perfectly to perhaps give some of his attacking unit the opportunity for a breather, too. And as the injuries begin to clear up, finally it seems that Villas-Boas is beginning to get a bit of luck along the way, too. You couldn’t pick a better player than the returning Scott Parker to give the outstanding Sandro a breather in the centre of midfield.
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It may seem bordering on the condescending to praise a manager for doing something as basic as switching a few players round during the festive period but considering the failure of the management to do it last term, supporters shouldn’t underestimate the art of squad management.
Many football fans cringe upon hearing sporting philosophies in the mould of Team GB cycling coach Dave Brailsford and his ‘marginal gains’ shtick, but it is the little things which can make the biggest difference in any sport and football isn’t any different. If giving your central defenders one or two games out of the firing line prevents a bit of fatigue creeping in, the emergence of an injury or the regression of concentration, then that’s all that matters.
If Spurs qualify for the Champions League this season, no one is going to attribute much of their success to a bit of squad rotation at the turn of the year. Yet last season serves an only too painful reminder of the taste in the mouth that comes with the over-reliance upon your first choice XI. So while it’s not likely to bag him an LMA gong anytime soon, it’s a well done to Villas-Boas for reminding supporters just how you shuffle the pack.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has confirmed that Fabricio Coloccini will stay with the club until at least the end of the season.
The 31-year-old has been heavily linked with a return to Argentina after requesting to leave the Premier League club for personal reasons.
Speculation that he may be allowed to move on has increased lately, with centre-back Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa arriving from Montpellier.
But, Pardew has confirmed that Coloccini will be staying, and will keep his role as club captain.
“Coloccini is going to stay with us and will remain as captain, which is fantastic news for us,” he told The Guardian.
“We have managed to persuade him that, as much as his family, we need him.
“He has shown fantastic loyalty to come and play and see us through to the summer at the very least.”
This news comes as a real boost for the Magpies, who are looking to move clear of the relegation zone after an underwhelming start to the season.
Newcastle have been very busy in the transfer market of late, with Yanga-Mbiwa’s arrival just one of a handful of additions made by Pardew.
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Mathieu Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran and Massadio Haidara have all arrived at St James’ Park and it is believed that Moussa Sissoko is close to sealing a move to the club from Toulouse.
Gareth Bale has become the talking point of English football. Any bout of awkward silence in a social situation between two or more males that are both aware the other has a reasonable interest in the beautiful game is filled with the words “How about that Gareth Bale then?”
So how about that Gareth Bale then? He’s been ripping the Premier League apart, with 16 goals and 2 assists in 25 domestic appearances, and since December the Welshman has been turning draws and even potential defeats into victories single-handed for Tottenham.
Bale has found that much needed consistency which he’s lacked in previous years, and furthermore has not been found wanting or gone absent in the big games, including the North London Derbies in which he scored in both this season.
The 23 year old has adopted the responsibility that has come with his flurry of form, understanding the rest of the team are now dependent on him to produce results. Andre Villas-Boas now deploys him at the tip of the Spurs midfield, almost playing as a second striker – a position where you must make a considerable impact in every match or the rest of the team is likely to suffer.
It’s sparked the debate over whether the Welshman can be considered to be “world class”. Of course, the term is always up for interpretation. Some would view only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as world class, whereas others would include the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Falcao and Bastien Schweinsteiger to name a few. I was unconvinced Bale yet belonged in either categorisation, until I witnessed his second goal against West Ham last month that may be looked back upon in the years to come as big a career defining moment as his hatrick against Inter Milan when he was just 18 years old.
And with the “World Class” debate has come the auxiliary discussion that Tottenham fans have no doubt feared for some time; where will Gareth Bale be playing his football next season? Although remaining at White Hart Lane is certainly not out of the question, especially if AVB’s men finish up the season having qualified for the Champions League, but the word on the street is indicating a move to Spain, most likely for Real Madrid.
As a football fan, I can only lick my lips at the prospect of witnessing Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale playing on opposite flanks – their sheer athleticism and technique would surely make them impossible to defend against. But as an Englishman, a Match of the Day viewer and a fan of the Premier League, a growing concern washes over me every time the potential Madrid deal is discussed in the papers, with prices varying from £40million to £70million and a bumper contract to boot.
Of course, comparisons can be made with the story of Cristiano Ronaldo, whom after growing into a true world-beater at Manchester United, left for Real Madrid at the age of 24. Ronaldo has gone on to turn a rather impressive goal ratio of one goal every two games for the Red Devils into an unbelievable feat at the Bernabeu of scoring more goals than appearances made. I have little doubt that Bale could go on to make similar achievements, but for the sake of the English game I hope he shows some loyalty to his roots in the summer, as I’m not sure the Premier League can handle losing another “world class” player.
In many ways, the decline started with the loss of the former United winger. Although there is still plenty of top draw talent in the Premier League, we’ve spent the last four years without a standout marquee individual. Similarly, in that time, Luka Modric has departed to none other than Real Madrid, and furthermore, the failed golden generation of English players has aged considerably, with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole struggling to secure contract extensions, whilst Steven Gerrard has had to adapt his game to losing a vital yard of pace.
The rise of Manchester City has allowed for considerable talent to come in, namely Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, and Manchester United currently have one of the top strike partnerships in Europe in Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie, but do any of these come close to the same category as Messi and Ronaldo – that interpretation of “world class” that separates the elite players from those with something truly special?
They all have their drawbacks and disadvantages, and it is interesting that amid last week’s RooneyGate scandal, only PSG were linked with having shown any interest or intent to sign the Englishman. Furthermore, a number of our stars, such as Juan Mata, Yaya Toure, and David Silva, are players who failed to make it to the absolute top level in La Liga and have therefore decided to make a name for themselves abroad.
Of course, the sheer money in the English game will always bring some of the world’s best to our clubs and television screens. But the difference between the Premier League and La Liga is not the money; it’s the pride of playing for either Barcelona or Real Madrid. Only footballers of true quality can get through their doors, and to even be linked with a move to either Spanish giant is a feat which the majority of Europe’s elite players can only dream of.
The same cannot be said for the English clubs. Whereas the Madrid and Barca player rosters are filled with the best of the best, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all faced periods of highs and lows, with the quality of the latter three diminishing over the past few years, and none being strangers to bit-part players, the likes of Gareth Barry, Yossi Benayoun or Ashley Young, who perform a role in the side but are miles away from being considered Europe’s best.
Similarly, the Champions League performances of England’s top clubs have showed up the lack of top level quality in the Premier League, or at least their inability to perform consistently and when the pressure is on, as has this season’s one-team title race, and the inability to defend all round throughout the division.
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I do not wish to suggest Gareth Bale has the weight of the future of the Premier League upon his shoulders when making a decision that will severely affect the rest of his career. Of course, the English top flight will survive without him, and it is still a long way off of losing its reputation for being the most exciting league in the world, with a thick spread of talent from the top to the bottom of the table.
But the loss of another “World Class” winger, before reaching the pinacle of his abilities would be a huge loss to the English game, and a sign that La Liga has become the epicentre of European football.
Whereas Ronaldo’s move was understandable, I would find Bale’s departure somewhat more hurting. He’s only had one season of true brilliance, although he has been performing at a level beyond his years for some time. But unlike the Portuguese forward, Bale has been brought up through the English system; he’s one of our own, a Southampton academy product, who’s risen through the ranks and benefited from the English game. Of course, loyalty is nothing in football anymore; careerism comes first. But losing a star so young, before even becoming truly “world class”, can quite simply be no good for the Premier League. I just hope the Welshman takes into consideration just how he got to where he is today, before signing on the dotted line.
Tottenham boss Andres Villas-Boas insisted that striker Emmanuel Adebayor has done a great job for the Spurs this season, according to The Sun.
Despite his lackluster performance this season, netting only two goals in Premier League matches, Adebayor’s manager has backed the striker, declaring that he’s had a great season.
“Adebayor has been helping the team a lot,” said Villas-Boas. “As a striker he wants to live off his goal scoring tag, and he has adapted to doing something different.”
The manager explained that even though Adebayor’s role at White Hart Lane has shifted away from being a pure goal scorer, the team keep their “faith and confidence in him because he is helping the team”.
“We try to get him into the goal-scoring positions more often to help him with his goal-scoring tag but we cannot be obsessed with this. He is doing a good job.”
Villas-Boas continued that the Spurs have played a 4-4-2 line up throughout this season, with “one striker coming short off the other one,” which the 35-year-old manager said “Ade has done to a great extent this season”.
“He has probably played this role with the sacrifice of more goals. That’s the reality. Definitely I appreciate that and he knows this.”
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Recent rumours have suggested that the Spurs may be willing to part with Adebayor to fund an offer for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke.
Swansea defender Neil Taylor believes that next term will be the biggest test of his Swansea career as they prepare for Europe.
Michael Laudrup’s side have become one of the more attractive sides in British football, showing that dominance in the Capital One Cup final when they dispatched giant-killers Bradford 5-0.
The Welsh club will now prepare for a gruelling season ahead as they look to put up a fight both in the Premier League and the Europa League, but the former Wrexham trainee believes that the squad can handle it.
The 24-year-old has spent the majority of the campaign on the sidelines after sustaining a horrendous ankle injury, but he could be in line to return against Chelsea this weekend.
Taylor said: “The demands it’s going to put on the team, whatever squad we have next season, everybody’s going to play a part.
“It’s going to be a really long season. I think we’re going to have a heavy pre-season because we have to get ready for Europe which comes early.”
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Lionel Messi says he will be fit and looking for revenge when Bayern Munich come to Barcelona with a 4-0 advantage from the first leg.
The Spanish league leaders were comprehensively beaten by the German champions in the first leg of their semi-final encounter, a brace for Thomas Muller and one apiece for Mario Gomez and Ajren Robben giving the Bavarians a healthy lead.
Barca have left themselves with a massive mountain to climb in the second leg at the Nou Camp in a week’s time, with Messi likely to be key to any hopes they have of reaching the final.
The Argentina international looked short of match fitness on Tuesday after spending the last two weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer says he will be fully fit when Bayern come to Catalonia next week and believes the team will fight until the end in the hope of making it through.
“I felt good. I was well enough to play. We have to lift ourselves for the second leg and La Liga. We will bounce back,” said Messi.
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“They were a lot stronger than us, physically superior. It is a pity what happened but we have to move on.”