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Barcelona will probably feel like their right arm has been cut off at this point. Losing Lionel Messi to injury for the best part of two months wasn’t in the script. Certainly not coming so soon after Rafinha’s season ending injury and lesser concerns to Thomas Vermaelen, Dani Alves, Jordi Alba and Claudio Bravo.
Yes, all of those mentioned have been injured at some point already in this 2015/16 campaign. Yet Barca still sit just a single point off of the top of the league with only Villarreal ahead of them.
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The Catalans haven’t perhaps quite hit the heights of recent seasons just yet, but we are only six games into La Liga and nothing was ever won in September. Who remembers the 22-match winning streak that Real Madrid went on at this stage last season yet they still ended up with nothing to show for their efforts.
Who will step in to take Messi’s place?
Luis Enrique will have to work overtime to ensure that the depth of the squad isn’t thinned any further after FIFA’s refusal to allow the club to register Arda Turan before January as emergency cover for Rafinha. Arguably, the manager needs to provide his best work from this point because his toughest assignment is now a reality thanks to the knee injury suffered by Barca’s talisman.
So much of Barca’s play is authored by Messi and whilst there won’t be a sea change in team shape and patterns of play, players such as Munir El-Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez have to step up to the plate now. Either or both have their biggest opportunities to date to make a real impression in the first XI. If they don’t do it now, the likelihood is that they never will.
Sandro remains more of a central striker. But it would be a huge risk to station Luis Suarez back out on the right wing where he began his Barca career, given just how well he has operated in the central role throughout 2015.
A more natural fit would be El-Haddadi out on the right. Able to cut inside when the move demands, the youngster needs to start to show the form and finishing of his Barca B days or risk becoming another La Masia graduate joining an ever-growing list of players who ply their trade elsewhere.
How many key fixtures will Messi miss?
Doom and gloom is unnecessary, however. It is worth noting that the blow of losing Messi at this stage isn’t quite the disaster as some are making out.
After six games, the Catalans have played three of their toughest away matches in Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo and Athletic Club de Bilbao. Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan happens to be their next La Liga fixture, but the Andalusians are playing more disjointed than Barca at this stage.
A first win of the season has seen them climb up the table but in truth Unai Emery’s men are struggling – big time. They certainly look more like the team that was losing 4-1 to Barcelona after 60 minutes of the UEFA Super Cup than the one which fought back and came within a whisker of taking the trophy. Against that backdrop, Emery himself needs to finally get over the line where Barca are concerned. In over 20 fixtures as a manager, Emery has still not managed a win against the Blaugrana.
Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League has potentially taken on more significance than before Messi was injured. But the hosts should still have enough to get past a side that have blown hot and cold in the Bundesliga this season.
With the greatest of respect to Rayo Vallecano, Eibar and Getafe, Barcelona need to be picking up nine points from those three games, and two games against BATE Borisov will almost certainly give them six points in the Champions League group stage to take forward.
The only real test that Barca are likely to undergo is from table-topping Villarreal – the last fixture before Messi is due to make his return.
| DATE | COMPETITION | FIXTURE |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Sept | Champions League | Barcelona vs Bayer Leverkusen |
| 3 Oct | La Liga | Sevilla vs Barcelona |
| 17 Oct | La Liga | Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano |
| 20 Oct | Champions League | BATE Borisov vs Barcelona |
| 25 Oct | La Liga | Barcelona vs Eibar |
| 1 Nov | La Liga | Getafe vs Barcelona |
| 4 Nov | Champions League | Barcelona vs BATE Borisov |
| 8 Nov | La Liga | Barcelona vs Villarreal |
| 22 Nov | La Liga | Real Madrid vs Barcelona* |
| 24 Nov | Champions League | Barcelona vs AS Roma |
| 29 Nov | La Liga | Barcelona vs Real Sociedad |
*Messi’s expected return to action
Real Madrid (A), Roma (H), Real Sociedad (H) and Valencia (A) follow within two weeks of the date the Argentine is expected back and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree that those games are far more of a test of Barca’s credentials than those which they will face over the coming weeks.
Another important factor to consider is the international break. With Messi now unavailable for his country, the rest and recuperation will come as a welcome respite for a player who once again did not have any holiday of note over the summer thanks to his exertions in the Copa America in Chile.
Time for Barcelona to step up as a team
We will almost certainly see a different Barca until Messi returns. One that isn’t perhaps quite so incisive and sharp. Dare we even say it, ordinary. But that’s fine if the team are still performing and winning games. Whether five goals or one, if the other side doesn’t score, the outcome is still exactly the same. Three points.
Barcelona can learn much about themselves over the next two months and that is surely for the benefit of the players individually, collectively and the team equilibrium as a whole? One man doesn’t make a football team. Never has, never will. Lionel Messi isn’t even the exception to that particular rule.
It might not be quite as pretty as we have come to expect from the Catalans, but this is a watershed moment for the club. Prove they can function without Messi and those forever pessimistic Catalans will think all of their Christmases have come at once.
The future is bright, but so is the present.
