Messi once again goes missing in the quarter-finals Champions League - Barcelona Ten attempts without a goal

The final whistle in Rome on Tuesday evening not only signified Barcelona's Champions League capitulation but also that of Lionel Messi, who lost possession 19 times, shot only two of his five efforts on target, and failed to score throughout the entire tie.

From being such an integral part of the Blaugrana's win over Chelsea in the last-16, the Argentine arrived at a round in which he has tended to struggle, and that factor became far more than a coincidence as he went missing once again in the quarter-finals.

For the fourth year in a row, Messi failed to score in the last-eight, a run including the 2015 tie with Paris Saint-Germain and through the knockouts against Atletico Madrid in 2014 and 2016, and in 2017 versus Juventus.

Ten matches, no goals; from a man who had done so well beforehand, notching ten times with decisive strikes against the likes of AC Milan in 2012, Arsenal in 2010 and Bayern Munich in 2009.

In fact, when taking into account every tie in which Barcelona have been dumped out of the competition since the Argentine made his debut, he hasn't scored in any of them.

Liverpool (06-07) 180'/0 goals United (07-08) 152'/0 goals Inter (09-10) 180'/0 goals Chelsea (11-12) 180'/0 goals Bayern (12-13) 90'/0 goals Atlético (13-14) 180'/0 goals Atlético (15-16) 180'/0 goals Juventus (16-17) 180'/0 goals Roma (17-18) 180'/0 goals

There is a clear parallel between Messi's drop-off in the competition and his club's. With just one title in the last seven years, the Catalans are starved of continental success and the startling way in which their big players go missing on these occasions is really taking its toll.