Lionel Messi was a shadow if his normal self during Barcelona’s heavy Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich last night.

After his one-legged heroics in the quarter-final against PSG, Messi's influence on Barcawas clear for all to see.

Consequently, the hot topic of the build-up to last night’s match at the Allianz Arena was whether or not Messi was fit to play the game.

As it happened he was, although he seemed to be operating a few levels below his devastating best.

Pundits across the world jumped to the conclusion that fielding a half-fit Messi was a gamble that badly backfired for the Blaugrana.

But La Pulga Atomica insists that is not the case.

Instead, he says that credit must go to Bayern Munich, for their devastating display in all aspects of their game plan, which succeeded in neutralising Messi’s threat like few teams have done before.

"I had been out for a while without playing since the injury, but I felt fine," Messi said.

"I could not do much about the result, it was a pity.

"They [Bayern] have shown they are stronger, they beat us in everything.

"You could see on the pitch that they were superior."

Messi has also joined his team-mates in accepting that a place in the Champions League final at Wembley is now highly unlikely for Barca.

Barring a sporting miracle, it will be the Bavarians, and not the Blaugrana, who contest their third final in five years next month.

"It will be a very difficult game at the Camp Nou, to come back from 4-0 down," Messi said.

"But we must go for it and try and achieve it. They are good, but we will try. If we cannot do that then, well, we will have to think about next year."