The Argentine was in a bad mood after sitting out the goalless draw at home to Deportivo La Coruna and his coach now has a difficult decision to make at the weekend

It was supposed to be a time for celebration. Barcelona had just drawn 0-0 at home to Deportivo La Coruna , but with the league title wrapped up this was very much an after-party. It was all carefully planned: the trophy was there, the commemorative T-shirts handed out, the music, the confetti. The fans, the flashlights and the fireworks. Everything was in place. Well, almost everything.As Barca’s league heroes took to the Camp Nou pitch to celebrate a third successive league title on Sunday, something was missing. Not something, in fact, but someone – someone rather important. Where was Lionel Messi?The Argentine forward had been named as a substitute by coach Pep Guardiola but hadn’t played a single minute against Deportivo. With a Champions League final against Manchester United looming, Guardiola decided against risking his best player – as well as most of the rest of his star-studded first-team line-up. But in avoiding one problem, he had created another: Messi was sulking.So distraught at being left out of the team was the 23-year-old that he couldn’t muster the energy to celebrate a title in which he has been the main protagonist. Without Messi, there would be no league title at Barca this season, but the No.10 was in his own world, sitting on the sidelines. And sulking.



Who me? | Messi receives a reprimand from Pepe after blasting the ball at Madrid fans

"Humble, harmless and homely he may appear to the naked eye, but behind the nervous smile is a shrewd and single-minded individual who will go to great lengths in order to get his way"





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By that time, news had filtered through of Cristiano Ronaldo’s two goals at Villarreal. Those strikes saw the Portuguese move a full seven clear of Messi in the race for the Pichichi (eight according to Marca), as well as emulating the Argentine in reaching a half-century of goals for the season. Messi could even be overtaken by the Portuguese now in all competitions – and he did not look amused.In the end, he was shoved on to the pitch by physiotherapist Juanjo Brau - very much a father figure for Messi at Barca since the player's arrival as a tiny teenager - and persuaded to take part in the celebrations. Moments earlier, the official team photo had been taken, but with Messi missing. Reserve goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto, celebrating as if he had played the catalyst’s role in the team instead of making just a handful of appearances, coaxed and cajoled his team-mate into donning the official T-shirt, and the photo was retaken.This sulky and sullen figure is something of a new phenomenon for football fans, but not for Barca. Last year, Guardiola left out Messi in a 4-0 win over Sevilla and the Argentine was furious. The following day, he failed to show up for training. Such a misdemeanour would result in a fine for most, but not for the best player in the world: Barca know they have to tread carefully with their prized asset and Guardiola is a master when it comes to dealing with the 23-year-old. After all, the Barca boss shared a dressing room with the likes of Hristo Stoichkov, Romario and Ronaldo Koeman as a player. Egos aplenty. And one of his first acts on taking over as coach at Barca was to overrule the Catalan club and allow Messi to travel to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Guardiola, of course, had won a gold medal himself and knew he couldn’t deny his young star the chance to achieve that particular goal.Such special privileges aren’t unusual. Messi is regularly afforded extra time off ahead of pre-season training and after the Christmas holidays. Humble, harmless and homely he may appear to the naked eye, but behind the nervous smile is a shrewd and single-minded individual who will go to great lengths in order to get his way. Such determination has seen Messi overcome a growth problem as a youngster, make it in a foreign country when his parents were ready to send him back to Argentina, and go on to become the best player in the world. And he is likely to carry on getting better.Lately, however, a meaner, moodier Messi has appeared. The Argentine upset Real Madrid fans by blasting the ball into the crowd in a recent Clasico meeting at the Santiago Bernabeu. An apology would have won back the respect of a rival support that has always admired him. But it wasn’t forthcoming.Messi’s team-mates know the product of La Masia can be petulant and prone to losing his temper in an instant. It soon passes, but he likes to get his own way. And that’s probably why he has ended up as the roaming forward in the centre of Barca’s three-man attack – he has to be the protagonist. He is unhappy if he doesn’t score and even more unhappy if others score more than him over a season. That is now unlikely to happen at Barca, particularly given his move to a more central position and the poor form of striker David Villa. The Asturian, though, has been shifted to the left to accommodate Messi in the middle and while the Argentine has racked up a hatful of goals, the team has scored less overall in such a system.It is surely impossible to be the best in the world (at anything) and not have an ego. Less so in a sport as popular as football. Messi used to be able to stroll down La Rambla or pop out to a nightclub with compatriot Pablo Zabaleta, who used to play for Espanyol. He can’t now. All the attention and idolatry have seen one of the world's most recognisable sportsmen isolate himself. He no longer appears in the mixed zone after games, rarely speaks at press conferences and only gives interviews when a big brand is involved and it interests him financially; Messi is no longer a normal person, and, gradually, he is moving away from a normal life.That may change over time, but for the moment Guardiola has a tricky task ahead. Barca play a meaningless league match at Malaga on Sunday and the coach will want to rest his first-team players in Andalusia. After all, the game is now a dead rubber and there is the not insignificant matter of a Champions League final to come against Manchester United a week later. Messi, though, will want to start. And he will want to add to his tally of 52 goals, not least because Ronaldo (who has scored nine in the last three games) is just one behind that total and can overtake him with a brace against relegated Almeria.So Guardiola must decide whether to give in to his star player and let him start on Sunday, needlessly risking injury ahead of a huge season finale just to pander to the ego of the young forward. Or does he leave him out in Malaga and incur the wrath of Messi if Ronaldo goes and scores a hat-trick against Almeria?Should that happen, a summer of sulking could lie ahead – and that could be a very Messi problem for Barcelona.