Which Barcelona players have been positively affected by Neymar's departure?

2) Midfield duo

Barca's midfield duo with Luis Suarez.

To be honest, Ivan Rakitic has been playing the best football in the past few seasons. He has been dropping deep to build up the play along with Busquets, having delicate one-two passes with Iniesta and has also been combining amazingly with the attack force.

Basically, he has been all over the pitch. Rakitic has completed 92% of his passes and provided 2 assists in the league. We have also seen Rakitic taking powerful strikes from in and around the opponent's D-area. He also has an unbelievable 75% shot accuracy, which is pretty impressive for a midfielder.

Iniesta has been looking great this season. He has been controlling the midfield and supplying the attack as well. Possessing an incredible 91% pass completion, Iniesta can now do what he does best. No Neymar means that the captain gets to dribble the ball around more, beating opponents with his exquisite touches and fancy turns.

Iniesta certainly has been providing the spark after a relatively low-key season last term.

Since the departure of the Brazilian, the job of creating chances and showing creativity on the field has fallen on the shoulders of this midfield duo once again. In the Spanish top flight, they have a created 12 chances combined.

There were speculations of the Croatian being replaced by Coutinho, but that transfer didn't happen and it seems like Barca don't need him, as the Croatian is back to his best. We also hope to see more magical passes and skills from the Barcelona's captain after the departure of Neymar.