9) MSN reign supreme
Although Messi thrived on an individual level following Pep Guardiola’s exit, he simply couldn’t carry the Barcelona team on his own to win titles. Neymar’s arrival in 2013 was supposed to help them overcome the Messi-dependence but the Brazilian took his time to adapt to Spanish and European football.
It wasn’t until the arrival of Luis Suarez in 2014 that Barcelona became a dominant force in Europe once again. In the past, Messi had been unaccustomed to playing with another centre-forward in the team (thus consigning Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the list of ‘failed transfers’). But when he played alongside Suarez, he saw the opportunity to score and assist goals at will as the trio ran amok in the opponents’ half.
The 2014/15 treble (Barcelona’s second in six years) was largely down to their exploits in front of goal. In all, MSN scored 122 goals and provided 66 assists in the 2014/15 season in all competitions. Messi was the key player (58 goals and 31 assists) thanks to the contributions of Neymar (39 goals and 11 assists) and Suarez (25 goals and 24 assists).
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