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3 players responsible for Barcelona’s potential treble this season

By Chiranjib Ghosh

Barcelona's Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (L), Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (C) and Barcelona's Spanish defender Gerard Pique celebrate their win at the end of the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 2, 2019. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) (Photo credit should read OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP/Getty Images)
Barcelona's Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (L), Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (C) and Barcelona's Spanish defender Gerard Pique celebrate their win at the end of the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 2, 2019. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) (Photo credit should read OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona are in pole position to win the treble this season

After securing a 3-0 lead in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at home, Barcelona are all set to progress to the final. With the La Liga title already sealed with 3 games to spare and the Copa del Rey a club staple, Ernesto Valverde’s men are likely to win the treble this season.

The entire squad has had a role to play in Barça’s success this season. Some players were not as consistent as others, but they stepped up in pressure situations. But three senior members of the squad have been extremely crucial, and have done brilliantly throughout the season.

The first has to be Lionel Messi. There are simply no superlatives left to describe the pure genius of the Argentina international. The Barça captain has scored 48 goals and provided 21 assists in 45 appearances in all competitions this season.

But mere statistics do injustice to Messi’s brilliance. Some of the goals he has scored are absolutely amazing. One such goal has to be his 85th minute in the away win over Real Betis, which completed his hat-trick, as well as a 4-1 rout.

Messi has always led from the front, stepping up in big games. Even when he started on the bench, the maestro had a huge impact coming on as a substitute. After scoring the goal which wrapped up the league title, he recently scored a brace against Liverpool.

But Messi has been far from injury-free this season. He has missed a total of 7 games this season, some of which very important match-ups. He missed the first Clásico, and some other crucial La Liga games. He also started on the bench for the first leg of the Copa Clásico.

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In those games, it was Luis Suárez who stepped up his game. The 32-year old Uruguayan centre-forward has come under a lot of criticism in recent years for his deteriorating physique and gradual sluggishness on the pitch. But he has successfully overcome this fitness issues this season.

Suárez scored a sublime hat-trick in the 5-1 annihilation of Real Madrid in the first Clásico of the season at the Camp Nou. He has shown that he has the capability of finding the back of the net without the help of Leo Messi, and has scored in many crucial games.

‘El Pistolero’ has also shown a very good understanding with his teammates, especially Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho. One of his most beautiful goals of the season came against Atlético Madrid, which rounded off the scoring and effectively eliminated them from the title race.

The veteran has scored 25 goals and provided 9 assists in 47 appearances in all competitions this season, which may look like a poor return for such a prolific striker. But Suárez’s contribution to the team this season has been much higher than in the last few seasons.

But while Messi and Suárez have provided the attacking flair, defensive solidity has been ensured by Gerard Piqué. In the absence of usual defensive partner Samuel Umtiti, the La Masia graduate groomed summer signing Clément Lenglet into a top-class defender.

In a mentoring role, Piqué has matured quite a lot. Early on in the season, the former Spain international was making errors frequently. But as started shouldering more responsibility, Piqué became a more composed figure at the back.

Gerard Piqué really came into his own in the 1-0 victory against Real Madrid in the away Clásico. While the likes of Karim Benzema and Vinícius Júnior constantly bombarded Barça, Piqué held his ground with ease and had a huge part to play in Ter Stegen’s clean sheet.

With his leadership role in defence, Piqué may have even surpassed the legacy of his mentor and former Barça captain Carles Puyol. His determination and skill have been very useful for Barça in high-pressure games, when defenders tend to lose concentration and make mistakes.

These three players have been the stars of the campaign, and much of the credit should go to them if Barça do win the treble. Other players like Ivan Rakitić and Jordi Alba have also done very well, while Arthur and Ousmane Dembélé have shown meteoric growth.

Next. Jasper Cillessen set to join Juventus in the summer. dark

But the trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Gerard Piqué form the picture of Barcelona’s 2018/19 season and their work for the team has been unparalleled.