Joe Cole: “Messi seemed disinterested and uncommitted”

Barça-PSG was presented as the capital duel of the round of 16 and a train crash between its two stars, Messi and Mbappé, since Neymar had to stay on the sidelines due to injury. Although both scored, the face to face had a clear winner. The Argentine opened the match with a goal from the penalty spot, but the Frenchman gave away a historic performance crowned with a hat-trick that wrapped up the final 1-4. “Florentino, record it” it was done trending topic, to value what happened at the Camp Nou and, incidentally, to pressure the president of Madrid …

Well, it was clear that such a delivery of witness would not go unnoticed outside our borders and Joe Cole, now an occasional commentator and former Chelsea star, marveled on 'BT Sports' at the Parisian performance: “(Mbappé) is the best player in the world right now. The influence he has on his team, the way he can escape from rivals. His associative game, his work without the ball … he's the alpha male of soccer right now“.

The former midfielder, in addition, followed the same line of social networks last night, although he did not focus on Real Madrid, if not, he stated that he would not last when launching for his signing. Although he qualified, by not hiding his love for Cristiano: “The best player may still be Ronaldo. But, as the young players advance, If you want to build a team, go and sign Kylian Mbappé“.

“The backbone of Barça falls apart”

As for the other fighter in the ring, Cole was clear to Messi and charged against his performance: “(Messi) seemed disinterested. It is very hard for any player to criticize him, because he is a genius and the best I have seen playing football, but today, he did not seem emotionally committed to the game.”. Of course, the words of the now commentator were not only directed to the '10', the rest of the stars of Barça took their part of the blame. “Messi is a leader out there, just like Piqué and Busquets. Barcelona's spine seems weak and is falling apart. It was 4-1, but it could have been five or six. These are worrying times in Barcelona, ​​”he concluded.