Ronald Koeman's comment on Lionel Messi in 2015 comes back to haunt him

- Ronald Koeman hailed Lionel Messi six years ago when he was at Southampton

- The statement he made then has now come back to hurt him as coach

- Messi scored the only goal in his side's heavy defeat against Barcelona in UCL

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Ronald Koeman's comment six years ago when he claimed that it is easy for any coach to have Lionel Messi in his team has now come back to haunt him after defeat against PSG.

To the surprise of many football fans in the world, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Barcelona 4-1 in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 in which Kylian Mbappe scored three goals.

The defeat was another embarrassing one for Barcelona as it will be recalled how they were sent out of the Champions League last season by Bayern Munich.

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In 2015 when Ronald Koeman was in charge of Southampton, the Dutchman explained that a coach should be happy having Messi Lionel in his squad because of his super qualities.

"It's an easy job for the coach to have Messi in your team because he makes a difference.

"The Barcelona team is strong, very good players, but if you have Messi, it makes it look so easy. He's a great player, maybe the best in the last 20 years."

However, Ronald Koeman has not enjoyed performance of Lionel Messi since he got to Barcelona and his comment has now come against him.

Apart from losing against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Barcelona are also not doing well in the Spanish La Liga as they are occupying third on the log.

Earlier, Legit.ng had reported how Argentine football legend Pablo Zabaleta urged his fellow countryman Lionel Messi to make a move to Premier League leaders Manchester City from Spanish side Barcelona.

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The future of Lionel Messi at Barcelona has been the talking point among the club's chiefs with his current deal expiring at the end of the ongoing League season in Europe.

Before the start of the current campaign, Lionel Messi wanted to leave Barcelona and even handed a transfer request to the club's chiefs.

Messi was not happy with how Barcelona were bundled out of Champions League in an embarrassing fashion by Bayern Munich and also the side's failure to win any title.

Ibitoye Shittu is an award winning Sports Journalist with more than 10 years experience in News-writing, reporting and Public Relation. He is an HND and B.SC holder of Mass Communication and can be reached on Twitter @Ibishittu