Michael Owen criticises Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez: ‘Barcelona are defending with eight outfield players’

Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League in a shock defeat by Roma and the pundit laid the blame at the feet of their leading lights

Luis Suarez had little impact on the game in Rome (Getty Images)

Michael Owen criticised Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in the wake of Barcelona’s shock Champions League exit at the hands of Roma.

Roma secured a dramatic 3-0 victory over Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico to book their place in the semi-finals on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate result.

Roma dominated the match, creating numerous chances throughout, and Owen pinned much of the blame on the attacking pair for their poor work rate without the ball.

“It is incredible,” said Owen, speaking on BT Sport after Roma posted 17 shots on goal. ”When we look at the stats and everything that it tells us it is incredible, but your eyes don’t lie.

“We looked at the game in the first leg… we’ve watched Barcelona for a number of months now and I’m not sure — even though they haven’t conceded many — I’m not sure you can not concede when you’ve got two strikers that don’t put anything into defending.

“They are basically defending with eight outfield players against eleven and I’m not sure you can do that at the highest level. You could argue that Roma aren’t at the highest level. There are teams that will exploit that even more. But no more, because Barca are out.”