Factors other than Messi-Suarez-Neymar that have contributed to Barcelona's success

Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi have decimated opponents this season but Barcelona have more to be thankful for

Barcelona are enjoying a vintage season under the stewardship of former captain Luis Enrique. At this point of the season, they are somewhere approaching the best form that they showed under Pep Guardiola, something the Bayern Munich manager admitted in his press conference at the conclusion of the second leg of the semi-final which saw the Catalans progress.

Unsurprisingly, Guardiola also paid tribute to Lionel Messi. Per The Guardian, Pep noted: “He is the best player of all time. I compare him with Pelé. I am so happy to see this football.”

Throughout this season Messi, Suarez and Neymar have taken the headlines. With 114 goals between them to this point, a record for the Blaugrana and only four off of the all-time Spanish record set by Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain in 2012, that is to be expected. But it conveniently glosses over the other factors that are in place that have made this such a wonderful campaign.

For example, if we think back to precisely this point last season, Jose Manuel Pinto was in goal for the Catalans after a season-ending injury to VIctor Valdes. Supporters of the club were beside themselves at Valdes’ decision to follow through his promise to experience football in another country, worried that if Pinto was the best there was to offer, with the greatest of respect, then Barca would be in trouble from the get-go.

Not one, but two goalkeepers step up for Barcelona

Former sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta, a goalkeeper himself and much maligned in his new position, came up trumps. Not one, but two world class goalkeepers arrived in the form of Chilean captain Claudio Bravo and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The youngster would be the no. 1 with Bravo as his understudy. At least that was the initial plan. Ter Stegen’s pre-season injury allowed Bravo to step in and he hasn’t looked back. Only 19 La Liga goals conceded is up there with the best-ever performances of any goalkeeper in the Spanish top flight.

The Zamora award is given to those goalkeepers that have conceded the least and Bravo will win it by a distance this season. To put his achievements into perspective, in a 38-game season only Deportivo La Coruna’s Francisco Liano can compare with 18 conceded during the 1993/94 season. Valdes and others have conceded less but have played significantly less games in the corresponding season.

Claudio Bravo and Marc-Andre ter Stegen have proved their credentials in their debut season

Ter Stegen might have felt aggrieved at losing his spot, but he has still performed brilliantly when called upon in the Champions League campaign. People will be talking about his save from Robert Lewandowski just this past week for years, but what about the full-length injury time intervention in the first group game in this season’s competition?

APOEL were the visitors to the Camp Nou and Barca were labouring to an unconvincing 1-0 win. Ter Stegen had been quiet throughout the 90 minutes and could quite easily have allowed his concentration to slip. A break from the visitors gave them the opportunity to provide a stunning upset and it was only the young German’s intervention that meant Barca took all three points.

Over the course of the campaign, supporters have now seen enough to know that ter Stegen will, eventually, be a worthy successor to Valdes and in the meantime they have a fabulous experienced head in Bravo.

Rise of Barcelona’s midfield lynchpin Ivan Rakitic

Another to finally be getting the credit he deserves is Ivan Rakitic, a steal at €15m from Sevilla. Something that was missing from Tata Martino’s squad was a midfielder with bite that could also play a bit. The Croatian is a man for all seasons, and one that is equally comfortable putting in a shift in the trenches as he is bursting forward to provide a supplementary attacking presence.

For example, watch his goal against Manchester City again. Track his run. Rakitic starts almost in his own penalty box, and keeps up with play with a lung-bursting 70-yard run. At the conclusion, he still has the presence of mind to set himself before lofting the ball over Joe Hart, to take that particular tie out of reach of the Premier League champions.

Ivan Rakitic has been a shrewd buy by Barcelona

He might not ping passes around in quite the same way that Xavi Hernandez does, but his passing accuracy is still acceptable for this team. And his skill set means that Barca have a different dimension to their play, something that has been needed for a while now.

Many a time the fans of the beautiful game have questioned the need for a tiki-taka style that has no end product. What is the point of pass-pass-pass if it goes nowhere? Rakitic provides that end game. Athletic, deceptively strong and powerful and with an all-round game that is complementary to his contemporaries, Rakitic’s signing is another positive for the club.

Luis Enrique silences his critics

And what of the manager?

Luis Enrique, ex-Blaugrana captain and roundly criticised before the turn of the year as being a pig-headed average manager who had no business being at the helm of this wonderful institution and no clue as to how to manage the biggest egos in the squad. The watershed moment came at the Anoeta Stadium at the beginning of January when the decision to leave Neymar and Messi on the bench provoked widespread criticism.

Since then, less rotations – he had made 29 successive rotations before the game at Real Sociedad – meant more continuity. Yes, MSN gelled like no one could have expected. Even Johan Cruyff had suggested that the three could never play well together. But that’s beside the point here.

Enrique had got Gerard Pique performing back to his very best. He had united a squad that had seemed disjointed before the Christmas break. In short, he had got the entire squad singing to his tune.

Luis Enrique has given Barcelona a Plan B – the counter-attack

And most importantly of all, he had finally come up with the ‘Plan B’ that Barca had been searching for. Even Guardiola hadn’t found the key to the lock in that regard. His teams passed you off of the park, but if a bus was parked Barca couldn’t come up with another solution.

Enrique has got the Catalans playing on the counter. Unheard of before his tenure. This team can change up to whatever style is needed to win games, and that is why it has been so successful to this point.

Just three games separate them from only the second treble ever to have been achieved in Spanish football history. It would be a worthy footnote to this season for a team that has, eventually, surpassed all expectations.