Messi: Team success is more important than Muller’s record
The Argentine star scored twice as the Blaugrana beat Spartak Moscow 3-0 on Tuesday, taking his 2012 tally to 80 goals, but he said that winning trophies remains his priority.
“We knew we had to start strong today(Tuesday), to avoid what happened against Celtic,” Messi told reporters. “It wasn’t easy on this pitch, but we did well. It was important not to concede tonight, for all of us.
“Muller’s record? The team are more important, in the second half we preferred to keep control.”
Is Neymar really the cure for Barca's ills?
Judging by countless reports over the past few months, the transfer of Neymar from Santos FC to FC Barcelona seems to have become a formality, with both parties allegedly having signed a pre-contract agreement and the player guaranteed a handsome 40 million euros ($52 million) as a welcome gift by the Catalan giants.
However, the supposed move is under scrutiny after Barcelona suffered a routing as emphatic as the one they administered to Santos in the 2011 World Cup Club final -- a game after which Neymar didn't hide his admiration for the Blaugrana's style.
An uncomfortable question should be ringing in Barca's ears after the Champions League humiliation versus Bayern: Do they really need Neymar?
As harsh as it sounds, the question evokes the famous "want versus need" debate. At first scrutiny, the Catalans are dealing with a much bigger problem -- an alarming scarcity of centre-backs -- than firepower upfront.
This season, Barcelona has scored more than 140 goals in all competitions. Even though 44 of them were courtesy of Lionel Messi, one can hardly say there is an accuracy crisis at the Camp Nou. At the back, however, things have been flimsy, with the 65 goals conceded already far past the 2011-12 mark of 48.
It's true that they have suffered crucial injuries. The loss of Carles Puyol and the already converted centre-back Javier Mascherano (a midfielder by birth) forced Tito Vilanova and understudy Jordi Roura to improvise left-back Adriano in the heart of defense. But shouldn't this signal a stronger need to go shopping for a defender rather than a striker who has shone within the Brazilian borders only, regardless of what promise Neymar offers for the future?
Some might say the solution is simple: buy both. However, reality has bitten hard. In the last transfer window, Barcelona lost the financial tug-of-war for the club's two main targets, Thiago Silva and Javi Martinez -- yes, they also detected the need to give Sergio Busquets help in defensive midfield -- to Paris St. Germain and FC Bayern Munich, respectively. They also apparently failed to lure David Luiz from Chelsea in 2011, even when the Brazilian seemed to be struggling with criticism from the English media.
However, the supposed move is under scrutiny after Barcelona suffered a routing as emphatic as the one they administered to Santos in the 2011 World Cup Club final -- a game after which Neymar didn't hide his admiration for the Blaugrana's style.
An uncomfortable question should be ringing in Barca's ears after the Champions League humiliation versus Bayern: Do they really need Neymar?
As harsh as it sounds, the question evokes the famous "want versus need" debate. At first scrutiny, the Catalans are dealing with a much bigger problem -- an alarming scarcity of centre-backs -- than firepower upfront.
This season, Barcelona has scored more than 140 goals in all competitions. Even though 44 of them were courtesy of Lionel Messi, one can hardly say there is an accuracy crisis at the Camp Nou. At the back, however, things have been flimsy, with the 65 goals conceded already far past the 2011-12 mark of 48.
It's true that they have suffered crucial injuries. The loss of Carles Puyol and the already converted centre-back Javier Mascherano (a midfielder by birth) forced Tito Vilanova and understudy Jordi Roura to improvise left-back Adriano in the heart of defense. But shouldn't this signal a stronger need to go shopping for a defender rather than a striker who has shone within the Brazilian borders only, regardless of what promise Neymar offers for the future?
Some might say the solution is simple: buy both. However, reality has bitten hard. In the last transfer window, Barcelona lost the financial tug-of-war for the club's two main targets, Thiago Silva and Javi Martinez -- yes, they also detected the need to give Sergio Busquets help in defensive midfield -- to Paris St. Germain and FC Bayern Munich, respectively. They also apparently failed to lure David Luiz from Chelsea in 2011, even when the Brazilian seemed to be struggling with criticism from the English media.
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