That’s one way of stopping him
Liverpool learned on Wednesday that no matter how well you play, if you’re facing Barcelona then there’s a very good chance that all of your good work can be undone in a second by Lionel Messi.
The Reds were the better side for large swathes of their Champions League semi-final first leg away at the Camp Nou, but were unable to grab a crucial away goal to take back to Anfield with them.
Barcelona, inspired by their tiny wizard, will take a 3-0 lead there after an opener from former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, as well as two further goals from Messi.
After such a good performance that earned them absolutely nothing of merit, some Liverpool supporters are understandably irked about how things went down in Catalonia.
Most have restricted their moaning to social media, but some have gone so far as to set up a petition to get Messi banned for what they perceive to be a “punch” towards Liverpool midfielder Fabinho.
The incident in question took place in the 80th minute of the game while Barcelona were counter-attacking.
Messi, in possession of the ball, attempts to play a one-two before trying to navigate a way around the Brazilian. Instead, he ends up jumping on top of him, as Fabinho simply stops running.
The below clip seems to show exactly that: Fabinho stopping in his tracks and Messi being unable to get out of the way, before both men react as if they were the ones fouled.
Hmmm… take a closer look at the “foul” again. Messi seems to jump into it and launch a decent forearm at Fabinho’s head 😳 pic.twitter.com/WGSYo4NswB
— Nick Christou (@niko_christou) May 2, 2019
Did Messi punch Fabinho in the head? We do not know. Is it enough to warrant a full-on petition calling for him to be banned? No. Did he absolutely obliterate Liverpool? Yes. 100 percent.
