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Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova believes that Lionel Messi can inspire the club to victory in the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich. The Catalan club trail the German club 4-0 on aggregate, but the result could have easily been in favour of Barcelona had there been better refereeing decisions. Barcelona were also suffering from the presence of a Lionel Messi, who has not fully fit to play. Yet, Vilanova took the decision to include Messi on the pitch. It was a gamble that backfired massively, as the Argentine star was unable to make any impact on the game.

However, he is expected to have sufficiently recovered from the hamstring problem by the time the second leg starts at the camp Nou. As a result, Vilanova is feeling confident about achieving a comeback, which many have ruled out even after this stage in the tie. The former assistant manager has recalled how Barcelona have been able to produce stunning comebacks in the second leg. A lot rests on the fitness of Messi, who has been quite incredible so far this campaign. There has, however, been criticism of Barcelona that they are too reliant on Messi, as they would have not progressed to the stage of the competition had it not been for the Argentine’s brilliance in the quarter-finals.

“We believe we can fight back. It is our obligation and we are convinced that retaliating is possible.  We know that it will be very difficult, but we are Barca and we can never give up on a tie, especially when we still have 90 minutes to play at home. “The more in form he is, the better our chances of getting to the final. A player as good as Messi, at this point in the competition, will have things to say in the match against Bayern,” said Vilanova.

The Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has claimed that he does not spend a lot of time looking at his personal achievements. The 25-year-old recently managed to break the all-time record for the most number of goals scored in a calendar year. He managed to claim that 91 goals in all competitions for Barcelona and Argentina. This was followed by the success in the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards when he managed at lift his fourth consecutive title as the world’s best player. Despite the numerous personal accolades he has received over the last five years, Messi has said that it is the team’s success that counts.

Messi has managed it to win almost every major title in the world with both club and country. However, there are a few trophies that continue to elude the Argentine. Messi has always spoken about the desire to win the FIFA World Cup. He recently said that he would be willing to swap for his personal accolades for success in this tournament. Messi recently signed a contract with Barcelona that will keep him at the club for the next five years. He has also become the highest-paid player in the world as a result of this contract. He has said that he is just happy to play for a club like Barcelona.

“How have I grown? Honestly? I have not evaluated it, I do not know. I always hope to improve on everything. And that also includes my career, of course. I try not to think about my personal growth in sport. But obviously I am changing my mind as I get older, but I have not stopped to evaluate how things have changed in my game, at least, not yet,” said the Argentine. His goals this season have helped Barcelona to the top of the league.

The Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has come out in support of the fellow teammate Lionel Messi by saying that the comments made by the Real Madrid manager José Mourinho is unwarranted. The Portuguese manager recently commented that he is extremely suppressed to see Lionel Messi being carried away in a stretcher in one game, but has been able to return to playing in the first-team after just two days. Pique has said that Mourinho should never comment about the professionalism of Lionel Messi. He has also aimed a mind game at the former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager by saying that he does not understand the life of a footballer because he has never played.

José Mourinho is one of the most successful managers in the world having won more than 20 trophies in the last 10 years of his career. However, he has never been very successful as a player and became a coach at a very early stage. The 25-year-old Lionel Messi was on the cusp of breaking numerous goalscoring records. As a result, the Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova used him in the meaningless match against Benfica, but Messi suffered an injury in the match that led to him being stretchered off. However, he returned to the starting line-up to break the record after just two days, which warranted the comment from the Real Madrid manager.

“I did not like at all what he said. It bothers me that in Madrid they doubt [Messi’s] professionalism. Mourinho messes with Messi because he has never been a player and he doesn’t understand them. Mourinho is destroying our game. The tension that there was between us and Real Madrid last year has passed. Mourinho has realized that there is no need to look at Barcelona because you will not find any problems,” said Pique.

Lionel Messi scored a couple of goals in the recently played La Liga match between Barcelona and Mallorca and with those two goals; he broke Pele’s record of 75 goals in a calendar year. Messi has scored a total of 76 goals in 2012 now and he is only nine goals behind the world record of 85 goals set up by Gerd Muller in 1985. Muller did that in only 60 games, while, Messi has played 59 games in 2012 so far.

The match between Barcelona and Mallorca was played at Iberostar Estadi on Sunday. That was Barcelona’s 11^th match in the league and the La Liga leaders continued their great form in the ongoing league. Barcelona won its 10^th match in the league and remained at the no. 1 position in the points table. Barcelona currently has 31 points and it is 3 points ahead of Atletico Madrid which is at no. 2 in the points table.

The manager of Barcelona, Tito Vilanova, made a lot of changes to the XI that had started the previous match against Celtic. Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets were brought back into the starting XI. Barcelona started a bit slowly, but, as the game went on, Tito Vilanova’s team gathered speed. Xavi, Messi and Tello scored the goals for Barcelona in the first half and at the half time break; Mallorca was trailed by 0-3.

But, in the second half, the Mallorca team came back and scored a couple of goals in the first 15 minutes to reduce the lead to 3-2. Messi scored its second goal in the match in the 70^th minute which brought Mallorca under huge pressure. That was Messi’s 15^th goal in the ongoing La Liga. There were no more goals scored in the match after that and Barcelona walked away with three points.

Barcelona will play its next match against Real Zaragoza on 17^th of November at Estadio Camp Nou.