Messi’s footprints all-over Barca’s La Liga title

Lionel Messi has arguably been more influential for Barcelona this season than any other as the club had to contend with Neymar leaving for PSG and a resurgent Real Madrid in the league.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi overtook Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in the race for the European Golden Shoe by scoring a hattrick against Deportivo La Coruna, one which sealed the La Liga title for Barca this season.

The mercurial Argentine had another astonishing season as Barca are still unbeaten in the league this term and the playmaker’s footprints are all over this Barca title. Messi is Barca’s most important player but this season he has been even more pivotal for Barcelona.

Barca had to adapt to Neymar leaving in preseason for a world-record 222m Euro fee and coach Ernesto Valverde changed to a 4-4-2 system –- a solution that provided defensive stability but heaped more responsibility on attackers, especially Lionel Messi.

Without Xavi Hernandez providing the metronome click in midfield, Messi not only had to play a deeper role in midfield, but also provide ammunition to runners behind the line while playing as a false nine.

Messi overcame difficulties and came up trumps once again despite Luis Suarez occasionally facing grave difficulties adjusting to a new role. Messi became Barca’s top-scorer with 32 La Liga goals and he was also the provider of 12 assists. Those figures however do not even begin to tell the story of how many goals Messi had left his footprints on. Messi’s incisive runs enables the team to gain momentum and his link-up play has been even more influential this season. That Barca are still unbeaten in La Liga is thanks to Messi’s last gasp strike in Sevilla, where Messi came off the bench and resurrected Barca to earn them a draw after trailing Sevilla by two goals with only two minutes left to play.

Before the game against Deportivo at Riazor, Messi had created 78 chances for his team-mates in La Liga, given 84 lay-offs, completed 164 dribbles and had 86 shots on target, with 14 hitting the woodwork.

He was instrumental against Real Madrid, thwarting the Los Blancos from playing their attacking brand of football at their own home in a 3-0 win for Barca. Against Valencia, Messi set up Jordi Alba for a late equalizer to manage a draw. This may not have been Messi’s best season for Barca but his overall contribution meant that it was his most influential.