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Why Mark Doyle is wrong about Barcelona’s overreliance on Messi

By Chiranjib Ghosh

BARCELONA, SPAIN - FEBRUARY 2: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona v Valencia at the Camp Nou on February 2, 2019 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - FEBRUARY 2: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona v Valencia at the Camp Nou on February 2, 2019 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images) /
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In his latest article on Barcelona, Goal writer Mark Doyle opined about Messi

One of the greatest misconceptions in world football is Barcelona’s dependence on Lionel Messi. The argument for this point is always the fact that Messi is the best player in the world. But when it comes to results, evidence to back up these claims are scarce.

In an article published by Goal, football writer Mark Doyle used the term ‘Messidependencia’ to describe Barça’s situation. He went on to claim that “Barcelona are a Leo injury away from falling apart”. But that is nothing more than an accentuation of the existing misapprehension.

Firstly, how can the fact that Messi is a brilliant player support the claim that Barça will fall apart without his brilliance? It is almost as if ‘Més que un club’ is becoming obsolete. The motto, ‘Més que Messi’ needs to adopted by the board soon.

Of course, Barça are a much better team with its talismanic leader. But how does that prove that the side will fall apart without him? The other argument put forward to support his claims are Valencia coach Marcelino’s comments on how Messi is a great player.

In fact, the article concludes with the statement:

"“As Marcelino says, Messi is not like any other player. And Barcelona would be just like any other team without him.”"

That is simply untrue, and statistics say that clearly. This season, Barça were undefeated when Lionel Messi was out of action with a forearm. If the team had not drawn 1-1 with Inter Milan, Barça would have a 100% record without Leo Messi.

In fact, Barça thrashed Real Madrid 5-1 without Lionel Messi in the La Liga. The side were defeated in the absence of Leo Messi only when Ernesto Valverde consciously took the decision to rest the Argentine maestro and fielded a very weak lineup.

That explains Barça’s losses to Levante and Sevilla in the Copa del Rey when Messi was left out of the matchday squad. But a comeback was mounted in the second legs of both the games, albeit with Leo Messi.

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It is very rare that Barça lose without fielding an extremely weak starting lineup, with the manager deciding to give a rest to Messi. Whenever Messi has suffered from injuries, the club has been able to maintain a very good record.

Barça are worse off without Messi, but the squad is not significantly weakened in the absence of Leo Messi. In fact, any injury to the Argentina international often motivates his teammates to do even better. For example, Luis Suárez produced his best performance of the season against Real.

The experienced Uruguayan centre-forward has been criticised in recent time for his decline, but he really stepped it up in the 5-1 annihilation of Real Madrid in the absence of his friend and partner in crime by netting a brilliant hat-trick.

Whenever Messi gets injured, it gets all hyped up as the end of Barça’s title-winning hopes. But the fact of the matter is, all the other members of the squad step in to fill the void left by the brilliant Argentine and Barça do not feel his absence all that much.

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That is not to undermine his immense talent in any way. But it is a fact that ‘Messidependencia’ is just a very popular myth.