Three talking points from latest Barcelona loss

As has been the case over the last several years, Lionel Messi carried the team to within distance of league leaders Atletico Madrid.

Unfortunately for him, and the club, no one else stepped up.

Despite paying millions for the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho, the weight of the team always fell on Messi and this game was no different.

The Argentine scored the opener to give Barcelona the lead but no one else was able to help him carry the load.

In fact, Dembele and Griezmann were yanked midway through the second half for Franciso Trincao and Martin Braithwaite. The former had no impact and the latter missed a sitter late before Celta Vigo scored the winner.

The desperation in Messi was apparent after every miss or misplayed pass. He, and some of his teammates, had their hands on their heads after Braithwaite’s miss wondering how that opportunity was passed by.

The inability to score their chances has plagued Barcelona all season despite their high goal count. Too often they needed to create three or four goal-scoring opportunities before one finally went it.

That kind of inefficiency comes back to haunt a team and it did for Barcelona.