After Barcelona’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, Lionel Messi must have wanted to get out of Anfield as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for the Argentine great, his night went from bad to worse after the Barca bus reportedly left the stadium without its captain. According to Spanish TV channel El Chiringuito, while Messi was waiting to provide drug testers with a sample, the bus left for the airport. READ: Fans, players, Twitter stunned by Liverpool comeback READ: ‘These boys are f***ing mentality giants’ - Klopp hails players One year on from a quarterfinal collapse against Roma, Barca let a three-goal advantage slip to lose 4-3 to Liverpool on aggregate. It means Messi will have to wait at least another year to win a fifth Champions League medal, a fact which may have contributed to the 31-year-old not stopping to speak with the media after the match. His teammate Sergio Busquets did speak with reporters, saying: “They have been better than us. I apologise. "After what happened in Rome, this happened again. It’s tough to go out like this after the first-leg result. "Liverpool have been smarter than us, they were faster. I think we had chances to score the goal we needed, but it wasn’t meant to be today."<doc-sep>'Injustice' for Messi to escape blame for Barcelona defeat, claims Ronaldo The Argentine superstar receives most of the praise for his team's triumphs and should be assigned blame for their failures, believes the Brazil great Lionel Messi should be assigned as much blame for Barcelona’s failures as he is praised for their success, according to Brazil legend Ronaldo. The Argentine was near his brilliant best in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool, scoring two goals, including an exquisite free-kick from distance to help his side to a 3-0 advantage at Camp Nou. But Barca’s dream start finished in a nightmare as Liverpool struck back at Anfield for a 4-0 victory thanks to doubles from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum to oust the Liga champions. Article continues below Messi was among the litany of Barca players who struggled in the defeat, with the star man unable to reach the heights he had in the first leg or throughout the course of the season. It was the second straight campaign the Catalan club was knocked out of the Champions League after squandering a three-goal first leg advantage, and head coach Ernesto Valverde’s position has come under scrutiny. In addition, players like Philippe Coutinho have been blamed for the performance, but debate surrounds Messi’s culpability in the defeat. And former Barca and Real Madrid forward Ronaldo believes that if Messi is given the lionshare of the credit when Barca triumph, then he must share with team-mates and coaches in the failure. "It is unfair to point the culprits to a defeat,” Ronaldo said at a Santander event. “I see that Barcelona has a great team and has the best player in the world, which is Messi. “The other day I read that other players lost and Barca wins [because of] Messi. It is a tremendous injustice to all the players and the coaching staff. “Barcelona is a great team with great players and very good coaches. You should be a little more careful with criticism.” Asked about the result of the tie itself, Ronaldo believes Liverpool’s performance was worthy of advancing, and thinks even Barca’s mistake on the tie-clinching goal by Origi would not have saved them from eventual elimination at Anfield. “[Liverpool] had more motivation, intensity and desire,” Ronaldo added. “In the first part, Barcelona had chances to score a goal that would have changed everything. But Liverpool deserved it. They have shown strength and emotional intelligence. “In the fourth goal there was a mistake, but I think that if it had not [been scored], it would have arrived in a different way. They played the game of their lives. “It's a shame for Barcelona, because they played a great game in the first leg, we all enjoyed Messi. “It's a pity that there is not a Spaniard in the final, but Liverpool deserved it more."<doc-sep>
Lionel Messi broke down in tears after his dream of winning the Champions League for a fifth time with Barcelona collapsed against Liverpool. The Argentina international was inconsolable in the Barcelona dressing room following the 4-0 defeat at Anfield, where the Spanish champions were on the receiving end of an incredible comeback in Europe for the second season running, having won the first leg 3-0 at the Camp Nou. Last season in the quarter-finals Barça beat Roma 4-1 at home but collapsed in the away leg to lose 3-0 in Rome and go out on away goals. Messi was then selected for a drugs test by anti-doping officials and the team coach departed for Liverpool John Lennon Airport without him as a consequence. Reports in the Spanish media have claimed that, on his eventual arrival at the airport, Messi was involved in an angry confrontation with a group of Barcelona supporters furious at their team’s latest collapse in the Champions League. Luis Suárez apologised for the manner of Barcelona’s exit and insists the players are ready to face the criticism heading their way. “We are very sad, hurt,” he said. “We are human beings, we feel the pain, the frustration. We have to put our chest out for the bullets that will come now. “It cannot be that in a minute we concede two goals. [For] the fourth goal we looked like youngsters. We have to understand all the criticism that is going to rain on us.” The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email Barcelona’s president, Josep Bartomeu, described the defeat as a “disastrous night” for the club and the manager, Ernesto Valverde, accepted questions would be asked of his future following another European failure.