Barcelona strike-duo Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann have come under damning criticism from Marco van Basten who says they currently 'play without purpose'.
Despite being two world-class talents, Messi and Griezmann are yet to truly gel together on the pitch since the latter joined the club in a £107m deal from Atletico Madrid in July 2019.
The pair were again off-key on Saturday as Barcelona lost 1-0 at rivals Atletico in LaLiga to the ire of Van Basten.
The legendary striker, who won 20 major honours during his career - including three European Cups with AC Milan, also said their recent displays are more akin to a bakery than playing football.
'Simply they are playing bad now,' Van Basten said on Ziggo Sport.
'[Lionel] Messi and [Antoine] Griezmann are playing like two people without purpose, like a bunch of bakers.'
Van Basten used the Dutch 'Stelletje koekenbakkers' which translates to a 'bunch of bakers'. And in this sense it refers to people who do a job without any notion of what they are doing or in a sloppy or clumsy way.
Elaborating further about Messi's recent performances, Van Basten believes there are multiple factors affecting him at the moment aside from his future.
'He will no doubt be annoyed that there is no crowd,' the Dutchman added.
'Besides, he has not trained much in the last few months; he has done little work. He is not happy with the situation in and around Barcelona.
'And then there's that mess with Griezmann. It's an accumulation. We don't know him like that at all.'