"The final whistle in Rome not only signified Barcelona's Champions League capitulation but also that of Lionel Messi, who lost possession 19 times, shot only two of his five efforts on target, and failed to score throughout the entire tie," wrote 'Marca', one of Spain's biggest selling sports dailies.
"From being such an integral part of the win over Chelsea in the last 16, the Argentine arrived at a round in which he has tended to struggle, and that factor became far more than a coincidence as he went missing once again in the quarter-finals.
"There is a clear parallel between Messi's drop-off in the competition and his club's. With just one title in the last seven years, the Catalans are starved of continental success and the startling way in which their big players go missing on these occasions is really taking its toll."
Indeed, Barcelona have never progressed in a knockout tie in the Champions League when Messi hasn't scored, and other papers chose to highlight this.
'Sport', a Catalan newspaper lamented the 'Messi-dependency' that is affliciting Barcelona - they do not seem to have a plan B for when their talisman is stifled.
Ernesto Valverde also took his fair share of the blame: "Trying to avoid losing the league when it was already won, he has burnt his players out. The lack of freshness was evident and not just last night, you could see this coming."