Ex-Barcelona superstar Rivaldo has addressed his old club's struggles and that of Lionel Messi following Sunday's Clasico defeat. The former Brazilian forward insisted that Los Blaugrana are not enjoying a winning streak because the club's No.10 has been left to do it all himself this season.
Having won La Liga last season while narrowly missing out an another final appearance in the previous UEFA Champions League, Barcelona is yet to hit a purple patch this season. Albeit they remain on track to defend their league title, the Catalans have seen the ongoing campaign plagued by injuries to a number of their top performers.
At the moment, both Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez who were crucial to the success enjoyed by the club at the beginning of the season are all ruled out of action with long-term injuries. The club's ill-fortunes have also rubbed off its talisman Lionel Messi who has not been at his very best in recent times bar his involvement in the big win over Eibar.
Against Real Madrid on Sunday, the Argentine extended his non-scoring run in El Clasico as he failed to get on the scoresheet for the fifth successive time. As a matter of fact, the 32-year-old forward has bee unable to score in the grudge match since Cristiano Ronaldo departed for Juventus in the summer of 2018.
Nevertheless, former Barcelona star Rivaldo has stated that the six-time Ballon d'Or winner can only do too much as he is not getting the needed assistance from his teammates to steer the club in the right direction.
"As usual, Lionel Messi had little space to play in," he said as per Bleacher Report.
"He is Barca's match winner and if he is well defended their chances of being threatening in attack are severely reduced.
"At the moment, he is the only Barcelona player taking responsibility with the ball, shooting from outside the box and trying to unbalance opposing defenders.
"No one else in the team seems capable of helping him in that department.
"Without Luis Suarez, Barcelona loses a lot because, apart from Messi, they have no other player who can surprise opponents," Rivaldo added.
"The Uruguayan works hard, is fearless and puts opposing defenses to the sword very often. Barca are missing Suarez and, in his absence, they're putting all the responsibility on Messi. When they lose, everyone starts asking what happened to Messi. He is always the target of fans' frustration when things don't go so well for the team but that's unfair."
Needless to say, Lionel Messi still leads La Liga's top goalscorers' leader-board with 18 goals. The defeat to Real Madrid, however, demoted his Barcelona side to second on the league chart with 55 point as Madrid tops with 56.
