Lionel Messi still upset by defeat in Liverpool and condemns his teammates at the exit of the Champions League

Lionel Messi admits that he is still recovering from Barcelona's defeat in Liverpool and insists that the Champions League's surprise exit should be attributed to the players and not to head coach Ernesto Valverde.

Barca was knocked out at Anfield just over two weeks ago while he was losing a 3-0 lead since his first leg in the semi-finals and was beaten 4-0 by the team from Jurgen Klopp.

After his exit from the Barca Champions League, Valverde was heavily criticized. Despite his efforts to win the league title and the Copa del Rey final, the 55-year-old could still face the sack this summer.

But Messi voiced his support for Valverde and criticized the attitude of his teammates in Barcelona for their defeat at Liverpool.

"I would like Valverde to continue next year, we won a double last year and we can repeat it this year," Messi said Friday.

"If I'm honest with you, I have not really seen the manager's criticism.

To be honest, I think he did a great job.

"He was not responsible for the elimination against Liverpool, we are the only ones responsible for what happened.

"We knew that what happened last year could not happen again.This can happen to you once, but not twice in a row.This is not acceptable what s & # 39; He is partly responsible, but we are more responsible.

"I did not see the game again, but as far as I remember it was very similar to the Roma game, they quickly scored a goal, we looked down and thought it might happen again.

"Although we reacted well, because the first half was not bad at all, in the second half, we did not compete, it was not there. only one team in the field, it was the biggest mistake, we did not compete, we let ourselves down.

"What we can not forgive is that we did not participate in Anfield. They let us go. The disappointment was very big. We must apologize for not competing to be in the final.

"I do not think about the boot of gold. I am still recovering from what happened in Liverpool and I do not think about personal trophies, I just want to finish the year with another title. [the Copa del Rey]. '