Lionel Messi might be one of the greatest players of all time but his success against German giants Bayern Munich has been very limited. Whenever Messi's teams play against Bayern, more often than not, the Bavarians emerge triumphant. That is what happened when Messi's Paris Saint-Germain took on the Bundesliga side in the Round of the 16 of the UEFA Champions League, the Parisiens suffered a 3-0 aggregate defeat to crash out of the competition.
After losing the home leg 0-1, PSG finished second best in the second leg which took place in Munich on Wednesday. As Messi's hopes of lifting the Champions League again remain in balance, Bayern forward Thomas Muller rubbed salt on the Argentine's wounds.
Muller has enjoyed some phenomenal results against Messi's teams, both at the club and the international level. And, he diddn't mind sharing the same after PSG's exit from this season's Champions League.
“Against Messi, things always go well at all levels in terms of results. At club level, Cristiano Ronaldo was our problem when he was at Real Madrid. But I have the greatest respect for Messi's World Cup performance. Messi's individual performance at the World Cup was amazing. He carried the whole squad. It's not so easy to play at a team like PSG. It's difficult to get a really good team balance,” he told Kicker journalist Georg Holzner.
Messi was quite ineffective against Bayern in both the legs of the Champions League Round of 16 clashes, putting in a sorry display. The Argentine was closely marked by Bayern players, especially Leon Goretzka who caused the World Cup-winner plenty of trouble.
In his last three matches against Bayern Munich, Messi hasn't tasted successful, losing 8-2, 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. In fact, Messi has ended on the winning side in only two of his last nine games against the Bavarians.