Brazil Legend Rivaldo Accuses Lionel Messi Of Star Midfielder’s Failure At Nou Camp: Report

Brazil legend, Rivaldo has reportedly blamed Lionel Messi for Philippe Coutinho’s FC Barcelona failure.

Barca signed Coutinho from Liverpool FC for a transfer fee of $175 million during the January transfer window in 2018. Moreover, the Catalans still owe The Reds a lot of money from the deal.

Despite scoring 21 goals from 76 appearances for Barcelona, across competitions, the Brazilian midfielder has struggled to impress the management and hence, he was loaned off to Bayern Munich ahead of the 2019-20 season. Before the current soccer season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, Coutinho had netted nine goals in 32 matches for the German champions.

While Bayern can sign Coutinho permanently, they have decided against it, even a Premier League move has been stalled for the time being after Coutinho was heavily linked with Chelsea a few weeks ago.

Rivaldo, who spent five years at Barcelona during his 24-year-old professional soccer career, has accused Messi of hogging “all the credit” for the club’s success, making it tough for Coutinho to really replicate the success that he had tasted at Anfield.

“I always believed that Philippe Coutinho had the ability to succeed at Barcelona, but things were taking too much time and both parties agreed on a transfer to Bayern Munich. I'm a little disappointed about his failure in gaining a regular place in the first team, but perhaps he was no longer confident about it and unhappy, so he opted for a move to another big club trying to finally recover his best football from his time at Liverpool."

"There are few players in the world capable of reaching such a situation and imposing themselves, and maybe Coutinho didn't have enough patience to find his spot in the team. The Argentinean star is the team leader and will keep playing at his best level for about three or four more years, so it is difficult to see other players shining at their best at Barcelona,” Rivaldo told Betfair in a recent interview, as reported by Mirror.

A few days back, it was also reported that Messi was unhappy with the way Coutinho has been treated at Barcelona. The Nou Camp players are aware of the club’s current financial situation. In order to sign one of their top targets – Neymar and Lautaro Martinez – Barcelona could sell either of Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho. The Atlantic earlier reported that Messi and the other senior players have made it clear that they want Coutinho to stay in Nou Camp.