Messi slams Barca's desire

BARCELONA • Barcelona have not gone trophyless since 2008, but Lionel Messi has warned that is the direction this "very weak" side are headed towards.

After surrendering the La Liga title to Real Madrid on Thursday, following a 2-1 home loss to 10-man Osasuna - their sixth defeat of the campaign - the Barca skipper did not hold back in his attack on the team's mentality.

Predicting the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie with Napoli, which is the only trophy they can win this season, would end just as badly if there is no change, Messi said: "The feeling of the team is it tries but can't do it, we leave a lot to be desired in many areas.

"I said long ago that if we continued in this way, it would be very difficult to win the Champions League and that has been shown to be the case in La Liga too.

"If we want to fight for the Champions League, we will have to change a lot because otherwise, the match against Napoli, we will lose that as well. We didn't expect or want to finish like this, but it almost sums up the whole year. We have been very inconsistent, beaten on intensity or desire.

"After the break, Madrid have not lost any games and they deserve credit for that but we have also helped them a lot.

"We lost a lot of games that we should not have lost and we have to be self-critical, starting with the players..."

The tie with Napoli is finely balanced at 1-1 going into the Nou Camp leg next month, but Barca coach Quique Setien admitted that he "does not know" if he will still be in charge then.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE