What prevented Messi from being able to pull off longer, incisive passes against PSG?
This thread will include both me giving some plaudits to the PSG defenders and their positioning/tracking, as well as showing some deficiencies in Barça’s movement.

As you can tell from that pass map, there was a real lack of those vintage, cutting edge Messi passes - whether those are long switches over the top of the defense, or diagonal through balls that split the back line.

@fbref have Messi at 6 long passes completed in the match out of 13 attempts. That completion rate of 46.2% is significantly lower than his 59.1% tally over the last four La Liga seasons, but there were also issues with the passes he didn’t play.

So, how did PSG make this happen? How did Barça bring it on themselves?

Here, Messi drops deep in the center of the pitch. On the left, Barça have the same kind of 2 vs. 1 situation with the full back that PSG were able to exploit multiple times. With Griezmann occupying the right centre back, a hard run inside by Trincão plus the outside run…

… that Alba did make would have been too much for Florenzi to cover. Instead, only Alba’s run comes, which the Italian can easily track and cut off himself.

To be clear, I am not blaming Trincão for the turnover. Messi should’ve realized that even he couldn’t get the ball to Alba there, but at 3-1 down in the 80th minute, the sense of urgency to get the ball forward was understandably strong.

Taking advantage of the 2 vs. 1 by making Florenzi choose which run to track would’ve made this a far more dangerous situation.

This one is more about great awareness and knowledge of the opponent from Florenzi. Watch him checking over his shoulder as Dembélé slows down, and then turning and locating Alba as soon as the ball starts approaching Messi. I didn’t highlight this scanning, but I should’ve.

This is a situation Messi has exploited many, many times - there was plenty of space deep on that left side of the penalty area, and Alba had built up a ton of steam. Florenzi saw it coming entire seconds before, though, making his interception look quite effortless.

Here we have Messi dropping very deep and coming across far to the left to pick up steam as he receives the ball. Once again, there is potential for another 2 vs. 1 overload, this time if Griezmann makes the inside run.

While the Frenchman does actually cut inside of Florenzi, it is more of a light jog than a hard cut to get in behind him and Marquinhos. Even at this low speed, you can see Florenzi follow Griezmann a bit and leave more room for Alba out wide.

Then, looking at how Marquinhos is clearly the highest man in that PSG back line, the potential for a hard run in behind was there. I’m not saying it would be guaranteed to come off, but the threat was definitely there.

However, given how Griezmann just kind of drifts towards the center, Alba stops his run relatively quickly and Florenzi steps out to him, and Pedri can’t really cycle into the space left vacant by anyone (like I pointed to out wide, potentially), Messi has no forward option.

Bit of a similar situation to that last one, but this time things are even more stagnant. Busquets, de Jong, and Griezmann all sit hidden behind PSG defenders, I would argue that Lenglet isn’t truly open either.

There is no attempt at any rotations, any overloads, just Alba making a straight run down the flank. Given that Florenzi has nobody else to worry about or drag him away, it’s another easy cover. The only thing to do is turn back and play to the right.

This is another example where it’s more about the PSG defense being aware and getting the basics right, which, as we’ve seen, isn’t a given at top clubs. It’s a pretty open situation, and the through ball to Griezmann seems to be on for just a second.

However, the immediate scan by Marquinhos after Messi gets on the ball lets him know that Griezmann has come inside of Florenzi, allowing the Brazilian to sprint back a bit and close off the angle, while Florenzi still has Griezmann covered on the outside.

Here, Barça are actually in the attacking third. As Alba lays the ball off to Messi and then turns, looking for a signature return pass, not only does Florenzi know what’s coming, again, but he also reacts to the run perfectly in my opinion.

He doesn’t turn and try to get in Alba’s way, nor does he go overaggressive and try to “match” Alba’s run. Instead, he immediately turns and takes the inside route, where he knows he’ll have the angle to cut the Spaniard off if that ball does get played to him.

Then, as Messi turns and scans the right side of the field, there is another 2 vs. 1 opportunity. Kimpembe is occupied by Griezmann, leaving Kurzawa to deal with Dembélé and Mingueza.

I’m going to put the fact that nothing came out of this situation on all three Barça players here. I think Messi was too quick to get the ball back on his left foot and thus start to angle himself away from that right wing.

But still, if Mingueza’s run inside is made with more urgency or seconds earlier, if he doesn’t hesitate for that second and then basically jog into the box, something could have opened up quicker.

Then for Dembélé it’s just the fact that he never really tried to make anything happen. He didn’t try a run off of Mingueza’s run, which I guess you could say him staying in that deeper space is still fine, but even after that...

...you don’t see him even try to get into the box for a back post run or something when Alba gets on the ball.

Now, what kinds of passes were PSG letting Messi make? I thought it was noticeable that when he got on the ball near the touchline, they were fine allowing Barça runs further down the wing for more straight passes down the line - look at the right flank here.

That is especially apparent in a situation like this, where PSG are fine giving up the ball down the line to Dembélé because there is almost no way for him to create danger from that position.

There are zero Barça players even near the center of the attacking third, PSG can funnel the Frenchman towards the corner, and even if you pause it as he begins to slow down, there is no central option and PSG have a 7-3 numerical advantage.

Another instance of PSG allowing that Dembélé run, although Messi’s first touch is poor and he can’t even get the pass away.

This time Pedri and Griezmann were in the center, albeit marked tightly, but there would’ve been even less space for Dembélé upon receiving the ball, with Kimpembe trailing right behind him.

Lastly, I wanted to address the fact the fact that Barça’s only goal did actually come from a long Messi pass over the defense that led to a penalty. While it is a very good run from de Jong and a very threatening ball from Messi, there was a ton of luck involved there.

First off, both Kimpembe and Kurzawa are still right on de Jong’s tail, and it was questionable whether or not the Dutchman would’ve been the one on the end of the pass even if he didn’t fall.

If that ball had reached de Jong, we’re still talking about a first-time volley or header, with the ball coming over his shoulder, from around outside the corner of the six yard box - not a straightforward angle whatsoever. What kinda xG are we looking at there?

Basically, while that one pass did lead to our goal, there was still a ton of luck involved.

The goal of this thread was simply to highlight some of Barça’s deficiencies and missed opportunities to create danger in the match.

These issues were down to a mix of a lack of off the ball movement, slow off the ball movement, the predictability of our play, and a lack of adaptation. No single player is at fault. No player is completely pardoned.