Messi isn't there at all. I don't know what happens in his head, does he have some personal problems or something bad happens in Barcelona?
Honestly he's too big a star in the national side. He's a huge star for Barca but he came through with Xavi, Ineista and plenty of other superstars as big/bigger than him to begin with. SO there was a kind of hierarchy, when he got great, he was considered great alongside other greats. When he became part of the national team consistently he was the star with all the worldwide attention beyond everyone else. Barca don't play absolutely everything through Messi nor is Messi allowed to constantly work for himself. In both games Messi spent ages with the ball (most of the first game, a lot of the first half of this one) with the ball looking to work room to shoot on the edge of the box rather than find the passes.
The whole team looks like they only try to pass to people apart from Messi if there is absolutely no other option on. Portugal aren't hugely different except Ronaldo is performing and Messi isn't making the difference himself.
It's a very odd situation, a better manager/FA who told Messi to play a specific role and played everyone for the team rather than to help Messi would play so much better. I think Portugal probably wouldn't simply because Portugal has a mostly crap squad with one superstar and on their day a defence that can hold out pretty well. They really have to play the way they do and I don't think they could win playing Germany style football. Argentina is absolutely overflowing with talent almost everywhere in the squad that can and should be playing vastly better football.
