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#3 Ivan Rakitic
One of the midfield mainstays for Barcelona since his arrival in 2014, Ivan Rakitic also had a dip in form in the 2016-17 season. He was left on the bench quite often and was also injured for a short period. People were quite eager to see him gone. What changed for him, according to most analysts, was the departure of Dani Alves to Juventus in 2016. The truth is that Rakitic was over-burdened, with or without Dani Alves.
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With all due respect to Alves, whose marauding runs on the right wing for Barca were nothing short of a legendary, his final years at Barca was marred by injuries and an evident lack of pace. While his contribution up ahead was still strong, his effectiveness at the back was wavering as he was unable to make quick transitions from offence to defence. This meant that Rakitic, as the midfielder on the right side, had to provide cover for Alves, thereby limiting the former's contributions up ahead.
Replacing Alves with a younger pair of legs was, therefore, supposed to boost Rakitic as well. In came Aleix Vidal. Vidal showed promise initially but was soon out with a season-ending injury. This was when Enrique started experimenting with a backline of three or playing Sergi Roberto as a makeshift right-back. Of course, neither was quite effective.
Messi, whose starting position was on the right wing, tended to cut inwards a lot, which left a gap on the right wing - a space that was occupied by Dani Alves with his runs ahead. In his absence, therefore, Rakitic found himself scampering on the right flank in offence and defence, thereby leaving behind his original station - between the boxes.
This season, with an added stability in the defence and midfield, however, Rakitic is free to play his natural box-to-box game, which has seen him transform into the player that Barca bought from Sevilla in 2014. The right flank is now effectively covered by either Sergi Roberto or Nelson Semedo.
