Barcelona dependent as ever on Lionel Messi’s magnificence as winless run continues ahead of Tottenham clash

1/14
Ben Hayward29 September 2018

Lionel Messi on the bench is a sight Barcelona fans never like to see. The Argentine attacker almost always starts for the Catalan club and when he is not on the pitch, nothing is ever the same.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Athletic Club at Camp Nou was further evidence of that, if any were needed.

Amid a congested calendar with trips to London to play Tottenham in the Champions League and Valencia at Mestalla next Sunday ahead, Barca boss Ernesto Valverde left the five-time Ballon d’Or winner out of his starting line-up, along with Sergio Busquets.

Having been held at home by Girona in a 2-2 draw last Sunday and then lost 2-1 at Leganes on Wednesday, a return to winning ways against Athletic would have been a welcome boost for the champions.

Messi was rested ahead of next week's clash.
AFP/Getty Images

But they had to settle for a point and without Messi, even that may not have been possible.

The forward’s introduction changed everything. The 31-year-old replaced Arturo Vidal in the 56th minute and his mere presence gave Barca a lift, while Athletic immediately began to defend deeper.

In that time, he hit the post, saw a free-kick cleared off the line, fired another just wide, had a shot blocked and then another saved by Unai Simon, and followed that up by assisting Munir El Haddadi for Barca’s equaliser. And he then set up Ivan Rakitic for a chance which the Croatian fired over the bar right at the end.

His influence and importance cannot be overstated. Messi has been saving Barca for years and a future without him is really the bleakest of panoramas for the Catalan club. With the Argentine now 31, that day is unfortunately edging ever closer, too.

“We can’t depend on Messi to solve everything,” Suarez said after the match. “Both Lionel and Busquets gave us and give is so much. But we don’t only depend on them.”

Messi struck the bar after coming off the bench.
Getty Images

Sometimes it seems that way, however. Earlier, Busquets had replaced the injured Sergi Roberto and Barca never seem to play as well without the Catalan midfielder. Their 2-1 win at Real Sociedad recently was another example of that, the comeback only taking place after the 30-year-old had come on.

Busquets has no real replacement at Barca and the same can be said, of course, about Messi. In the absence of those two, there was a chaos to the Catalans’ football on Saturday, with flashes of individual quality from Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, but the lack of a style so associated with the team’s play in years gone by.

There are problems in defence, too. Gerard Pique has struggled in the last few games and it was he who played Oscar De Marcos onside for Athletic's goal late in the first half.

That strike meant Barca had been behind in six of their nine fixtures this term in all competitions and the defensive solidity from last season is conspicuous by its absence at the moment.

Messi can only do so much and his brilliance was almost enough to get Barca out of jail in the end, but two points from a possible nine represents a woeful week for the Catalans and much better will be needed if Valverde’s side are to compete for La Liga and the Champions League later on in 2018-19.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in