Earlyface

Former Real Madrid sporting director Jorge
Valdano feels Lionel Messi has become less
influential on the pitch.
Messi failed to exert his influence and picked up a
yellow card as Barcelona slumped to a 3-1 defeat
against their bitter rivals Real Madrid last Saturday.
And Valdano feels that it is evident that Messi is a lot
less influential this season at Barcelona and said that
he has lost his destructive ability to tear apart
defences.
"Looking at the last game, Messi is a little off-form”,
the Argentine told Radio Marca.
“His position has changed on the pitch and now his
job is more to provide assists, but he has lost his
ability to disrupt the defence – something which used
to solve many past games for Barca."
Though Messi collected the Golden Ball at the World
Cup, Valdano feels that his performances in Brazil
suggested that he was not at his peak physical
condition.
"In the Brazil World Cup we saw that something was
up with Messi; he walked around the pitch.
"He was physically not at his best and maybe that is
the reason for playing further back, to not tire
himself so much."