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Former Barcelona full-back Dani Alves has explained what the Catalan giants are currently lacking after losing their La Liga crown to Real Madrid.
The Brazil international told Catalunya Rádio’s Tot Gira program that the team lack identity and captain Lionel Messi needs more support.
“What Barça lacks is this identity that Barça has always had, like Barça with Ronaldinho. The identity of a dominating team 98 minutes, 100 minutes or 150 minutes. Barça that makes people have a good time,” he said.
“Messi is a born winner, he doesn’t like to lose. When he loses it’s normal that he gets angry, he wants to always win, like me, we want to always win.
!“He sees, what I feel, and that’s a lack of support. I’ll always say that Messi is the main course and we were the perfect ingredients for that plate. Now I have the feeling that he’s doing everything, all the time, and we must remember he’s only human.”
Alves enjoyed huge success with Barcelona during his time with the club, winning six La Liga titles and lifting the Champions League three times as part of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side.
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Barcelona Still Reliant on Messi
Barcelona’s reliance on Messi is no secret, but the captain has once again been vital for the Catalan giants in 2019-20 despite celebrating his 33rd birthday in June.
Ahead of Thursday’s defeat to Osasuna, Sport highlighted how the captain had supplied 52.5 percent of Barcelona’s goals in La Liga 2019-20.
Messi then went on to score Barcelona’s only goal of the game on Thursday, netting another brilliant free-kick to take his tally to the season to 23.
Setien Yet to Find Right Formula
Meanwhile, Barcelona manager Quique Setien arrived at Barcelona in January with a reputation for attractive, attacking football and a willingness to trust in youth.
Yet the 61-year-old is yet to find the right formula at Barcelona, with the team still struggling to consistently impress under their new coach.
There have been signs of optimism under Setien, such as the 4-1 win at Villarreal, but Thursday’s defeat to the 10-men of Osasuna was a new low.
Indeed the result has brought fresh pressure on the manager, and it’s not clear if he will still be in charge when Barcelona return to action in August in the Champions League.
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