Champions League winners and losers: Messi makes more history as Barcelona suffer embarrassing exit

Lionel Messi didn't want to leave Barcelona. Sergio Aguero revealed earlier this week that his fellow Argentine was so excited about extending his stay at Camp Nou that he kept asking him to take pictures of him with a Barca shirt.

However, while leaving may have been extremely painful for Messi, it's now looking like a blessing in disguise.

Before his exit, Barca hadn't played in the Europa League since 2004. Now, they're bracing themselves for a second successive campaign.

Messi, meanwhile, is back to something resembling his mesmeric best after a trying first season at Paris Saint-Germain.

On Tuesday night, in a 7-2 rout of Maccabi Haifa in which he combined sensationally with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, the 35-year-old became the oldest player to both score and create two goals in the same Champions League.

In doing so, he also scored his 23rd goal from outside the area, thus taking outright possession of a record he had previously shared with Cristiano Ronaldo, who, like Barcelona, is now in the Europa League...

It's not been a good week for the three remaining European Super League (ESL) rebels, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus all beaten.

Of course, Madrid will be fine. A home win over Celtic in their final group game will see them progress to the last 16 among the top seeds, and nobody would bet against the reigning champions going on to win a tournament they rather bizarrely remain intent on destroying.

Barca and Juve's motivations are obvious, though. While the current Champions League format has its flaws, and is still weighted too heavily in favour of the richest teams, the group stage does at least punish consistently poor performances, which is why both Barca and Juve, two specialists in failure, favour a closed competition.

Their respective presidents, Joan Laporta and Andrea Agnelli, are adamant that an ESL is essential for the survival of European football. But it's a little more difficult to argue that you're acting in everyone's interests when you're suffering such heavy losses, on and off the field.

Recklessly run clubs like Barca and Juve deserve to be punished for their failings and shouldn't be bailed out by an ESL while less illustrious rivals are practicing prudence.

The economic imbalance in European football certainly has to be addressed, along with the uneven distribution of prize money from continental competition and the inflated transfer market caused by colossal TV rights deals and oil money.

Indeed, there's no denying that reform is essential. The European game has many problems. But a Super League isn't the solution to any of them.

Only on-field results should determine which clubs secure entry to certain competitions and this week has hammered home that neither Barca nor Juve deserve to be in the Champions League – let alone a Super League.

It wasn't long before fake Europa League accounts appeared on Twitter to welcome back Barcelona. They were lame attempts at humour but there's no denying that the demotion of such a high-profile club, with a massive global following, is a huge boost for the much-maligned second-tier tournament.

And it's not only Barcelona who will be dropping down after this season's group stage.

Serial winners Sevilla are also on their way, with Juventus, Ajax and Atletico Madrid likely to follow.

When one considers that Arsenal, Manchester United, Betis and several other quality sides will be lying in wait, we look set for a cracking knockout stage in this season's Europa League.

Indeed, Barca could experience as much difficulty in trying to win the competition as they did last season...

For the first time since the 1998-99 edition of the Champions League, La Liga will have just one representative in the knockout stage. And, once again, it's Real Madrid.

Sevilla will quite rightly claim that they were placed in a tough group, alongside Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund. And the Europa League has long felt like their natural habitat anyway. The Andalusians will already be eyeing a record-extending seventh title.

However, it is extremely concerning for the Spanish game that Barcelona are in danger of becoming Europa League regulars, having been relegated to Europe's 'second division' for the second year in a row.

Granted, they too were given a tough draw, with Bayern Munich and Inter for company in Group C, but the way in which the second-best team in Spain performed against both did not reflect well on the current strength of La Liga.

Indeed, the issue was even raised with Barca boss Xavi at the weekend, after his side coasted to victory over Athletic Club just a few days after easing past Villarreal. Xavi insisted that the Primera Division is actually stronger, and more competitive, than its been in years.

But Atletico Madrid, who are third in La Liga but already eight points behind Real, made a mockery of that claim by being knocked out of the Champions League on matchday five – despite being in a group with Porto, Club Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen.

Those are all decent sides in their own right – the Belgians have been the tournament's surprise package this season – but they would have been easily beaten by the Atleti sides that reached the final in 2014 and 2016. The suspicion is that it's not just Diego Simeone's side that are in decline.

Real Madrid remain the kings of Europe and Spain still ranks second in UEFA's club coefficients but there are worrying signs that La Liga is losing its lustre.

Inter qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League at San Siro and yet the media spotlight was shining on the Spotify Camp Nou.

That was perhaps understandable, given Barcelona's group-stage elimination is one of the stories of the season.

However, the job that Simone Inzaghi has done in getting Inter through to the knockout stage should not be overlooked.

Remember, the coach's position was under intense scrutiny going into the decisive double-header with Barca, after an atrocious start to the Serie A season.

Worse still, Inzaghi was severely hindered by injuries to two of his most important players: Romelu Lukaku and Marcelo Brozovic.

They may have benefited from some dodgy VAR decision in beating Barca at San Siro but they were by far the better side in the subsequent 3-3 draw in Catalunya, with Inzaghi completely outwitting Xavi.

On Tuesday night, the coach immediately paid tribute to his players for "achieving our first target of the season" by getting out of "very difficult" group, but it's only right that he's also recognised for overseeing this surprise success.

Inzaghi's predecessor had a fare more frustrating evening, not that Inter (or Juventus or Chelsea) supporters will be too surprised.

Antonio Conte may have won the Champions League as a player but he's never even made a semi-final as a coach. His poor record in the tournament has long been used to undermine his status as one of the game's great coaches.

And he knows it too, which is why for all his claims about Tottenham lacking quality and strength in depth, elimination at this year's group stage would seriously sting, as underlined by his furious reaction to Wednesday night's draw with Sporting CP.

In fairness, Conte's outrage, which earned him a red card, was somewhat understandable. Spurs looked to have won the game when Harry Kane hooked the ball home in the dying seconds, only to see the VAR disallow the goal after a ridiculously long wait.

Matt Doherty admitted that neither he nor his players had any idea what was going on, and that he would have to check the rule book to figure out why Kane was deemed onside given the ball had arrived at the forward's feet via a deflection.

The bottom line is, though, that Spurs were denied a place in the next round and must now avoid defeat at Marseille next week to progress.

"VAR is doing a lot of damage," Conte fumed in his post-match press conference. "I don’t understand why we have to get something from the next game when we could have secured qualification in this game. When you invent this type of situation, you create a lot of damage to the club."

And potentially the coach. With Spurs fans growing disillusioned with Conte's style of play, he can ill-afford further Champions League disappointment right now. Next week's game at the Velodrome is a massive one.

One feared for Darwin Nunez after his shocking miss at the tail end of the first half in Liverpool's meeting with Ajax. The Uruguayan's not had an easy time of it since arriving at Anfield during the summer, quickly becoming the subject of incessant stick on social media. Every error has been pored over, every miss – even in national team training sessions – immediately gone viral.

So, he was understandably "really angry" with himself as he sat in the away dressing room during the half-time break at the Johan Cruyff Arena. He must have known that he was already being singled out again online, once again dismissed as a big-money flop, the 'new Andy Carroll'.

Andy Robertson, though, promised Nunez that he would put a cross on his head for him to make amends, and the Scot proved true to his word.

Just four minutes into the second half, the left-back swung over a corner that Nunez powered home, and Robertson looked as overjoyed as the under-fire forward.

Nunez, of course, will still be slated over his first-half miss, such is the nature of social media, but with team-mates like Robertson, who is clearly as talented as he is supportive, Liverpool's £64-milliong signing has every chance of proving his worth.