Messi is now 33, yet Barcelona appear more reliant on him than ever. He scored twice against Bayern in the quarter-finals in 2009 when Barcelona went on to win the Champions League
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi might never have been faced with a more daunting task at Barcelona than engineering a victory against Bayern Munich in Lisbon tonight. The only surviving former winners of European club football's greatest prize—with five titles each—meet in a heavyweight Champions League quarter-final behind closed doors at the Estadio da Luz. It is not often that Messi's Barcelona come into such a big European tie as the underdogs, but they have this time, with Quique Setien's team having lost out to Real Madrid in the Spanish title race while Bayern appeared flawless on the way to winning a German league and cup double.
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Age factor
Messi is now 33, yet Barcelona appear more reliant on him than ever. He scored twice against Bayern in the quarter-finals in 2009 when Barcelona went on to win the Champions League. Yet this time threatens to be different. With Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann alongside him, Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets behind him and Jordi Alba out wide, Messi should not be on his own. Even in defence, Gerard Pique still has a claim to be the best defender in La Liga and Marc-Andre ter Stegen is among the most impressive goalkeepers in the world.
Griezmann upbeat
"Bayern are playing really well and are full of confidence but we have the weapons to beat them," Griezmann said. But the sense remains that Messi must perform if Barcelona are to defeat Bayern, widely seen as the favourites to lift the trophy, at the end of the knock-out tournament in Lisbon. It will take something special not only to lift his own team out of the doldrums but also to neutralise an opponent that many believe are the most complete side in Europe.
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