CRITICS SILENCED

The Barcelona assistant manager Jordi Roura has said that the two goals scored with the Argentine striker Lionel Messi in the 4-0 win over AC Milan to silence the critics, who have been critical of him in recent weeks.

Messi has emerged as one of the best players in the world in the last few seasons. He has been consistently scoring goals of high class and importance. However, the last few weeks have been tough for the 25-year-old, who has seen Barcelona suffer plenty of defeats. The team were in danger of being eliminated from the Champions League in the last 16 stage itself after suffering a 2-0 defeat against the Italian club AC Milan in the first leg.

However, they managed a stunning comeback in the second leg after two goals from Messi set them on their way to a 4-0 win. After the match, the assistant manager Roura has said that he is pleased to see Messi on such an impressive form. Messi has been criticised by the press even though he has scored three goals in his last five matches. Questions have also been asked about the ability of the assistant manager Roura. He has also revealed that the manager Tito Vilanova will be coming back from the cancer treatment just in time for the quarter-finals.

“Messi received criticism in recent days, as all our players did, but today we showed that we could react. He has a very special way of playing football and the fact he plays like this allows us to have these victories. Beating Milan 4-0 is not normal for anyone, not even Barcelona. They are a great team and made life very difficult for us. It was certainly not normal for us,” said Roura after the impressive victory that could pit them against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.