It has been four months now since Lionel Messi ended his 21-year-long association with FC Barcelona and moved to France to start a new phase of his career with Ligue 1 giants PSG.
While the club did sign players like Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero in the summer to bolster their attack, it was always going to be difficult for the club to fill the void.
Expectedly, Barcelona have struggled in La Liga this season and are currently in the seventh position on the league table with 23 points from 15 matches, 16 points less than league leaders and rivals Real Madrid.
But the biggest setback the club has faced so far in the season is their elimination from the group stages of the Champions League and being relegated to the Europa League. For the first time in 21 years, Barcelona have bowed out of the Champions League from the group stages.
The last time the La Liga side played in the Europa League was in the 2003-04 season. Messi made his professional debut for the club during the 2004-05 season and while he was at the club, never did they fail to make it into the Champions League knockout stage.
Real Madrid too had a mini crisis when Cristiano Ronaldo parted ways with the club in 2018. They finished third in La Liga, were knocked out of the round of 16 stage in the Champions League by Ajax and reached the semifinal of the Copa del Rey where they lost to their eternal rivals, Barcelona.
But compared to Barcelona, their rivals coped with the departure of their superstar in a much better way. Unlike the Catalan club, Madrid reached the knock out stage of the Champions League topping their group and were in a better position on the league table after 15 matches.
Here is a comparison of how Real Madrid and Barcelona performed in the first season after Ronaldo and Messi's departure respectively.
Raphiejay
230
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
fizzbizzie
152
no better way to define the effect of both players ))
The_Truth
110
Both of them had a humongous effect on their respective teams. But, Messi leaving Barca was like ripping their sole and spirt apart. Thats why they are not competitive anymore. When CR7 left Madrid, they were actually on the verge of a rebuild. Still thay managed to play well as they had lot of great players and had a decent squad. Only thing missing for them was striker and when Benzema came back to form the issue was sorted. Meanwhile Messi was actually Barcelona all together. I am saying this cause he was the one leading attack, creating for others, scoring important goals and was always their Spirit. His impact was second to none. No one can be compared to him. After Inesta, Neymar and Xavi left, he still carried the whole team with a week sqaud.Now Barca is in Europa Legue!! Meanwhile now Juve is UCL group topers and Madrid is Laliga Leaders!!
ManUnited-Red
69
Real Madrid is so much better then Barca, Barca can't even win against teams like Osasuna [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
MadridMaldives
38
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
According to your logic Barça is better without Messi: With Messi 👉 2-8 vs Bayern Without Messi 👉 0-3 and 0-3 vs Bayern 😂😂😂
fizzbizzie
24
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
cos Messi sap Barcelona and left them with debt of over 1 billion. he never adapted to the club and the club had to adapt to him spending billions. CR7 on the other hand adapts well to his various clubs which explains why Barcelona has spent far more with Messi than all the clubs have spent with cr7 and explains why Messi has 1 goal in 11 games in 6igue 1 ))
mukeirz
20
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
Lol. Poor mule. Ask messi to sign players for him. he was a gold digger and left your club in ruins, and then left
bebcopsz
13
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
United without Ronaldo uel United with Ronaldo UCL group top PSG without Messi UCL group top PSG with messi UCL group runner up difference is how you see .... one more thing messi left when barca was in debt and for free.. Ronaldo gave 120 million to Madrid..
rezdlmtuy
9
Real Madrid is far better without Cristiano Ronaldo compare to Barcelona without Messi, Madrid won club world cup, laliga and even reach champions league semi final and the other side Ronaldo couldn't help Jeventus reach just quarter final of the champions league, so in all Madrid is much better than the clubs Ronaldo move to...
MiHO
9
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
Remember when Barca lose to Juve 3 - 0 in CL group stage last season.. Dumb.. Is Ronaldo the only goalscores at Juve? Is he a defender, midfield and GK at Juve.. Dumb messi fans.. That's why messi fans are the worst.. So toxic..messi fans Come to psg just to destroy PSG fan base.. Ruined everything in psg fans base.. So sad
Juzcdeknu
9
Messi Leaves Barca👉🏾Barca drops to Euros CR7 leaves Juve👉🏾 Juve tops their group One was carrying a team with 100% loyalty The other decided to run away when he saw no prospects The difference is clear as day…. No matter how you try and deny it
I often wonder if you ( fan boys ) are from some other world , or I have entered the wrong world suddenly . Since when did humans have such a bad logic . DR. Stranger help me . Tell me what happened to me .