Lionel Messi: What His Injuries Mean for Real Madrid in La Liga

There was a time when Lionel Messi just wouldn't get injured.

Transfermarkt suggests that during Pep Guardiola's reign, the Argentinean picked up just one injury in four seasons between 2008 and 2012, which kept him out for just one week.

His latest injury—which seems set to rule him out until the new year—is his fifth since Guardiola departed and his fifth of 2013.

After that period of time when Messi seemed infallible, came the period of time where Barcelona seemed extremely fallible without him.

"Messidependencia" it was, and still is, known as; it carried a strong argument in some quarters.

Against PSG at Camp Nou, it is likely Barca would have been knocked out of the Champions League had Messi not been brought from the bench to play a key role in the equaliser.

However, a half-fit La Pulga could do little to halt a rampant Bayern Munich in Germany, with La Blaugrana looking toothless without him in peak physical condition.

The same applied when Bayern came to Catalonia for the second leg—Messi watched from the dugout.

With those factors in mind, it's fair to think the latest injury to Barca's talisman may give Real Madrid hope as they look to chase down the six-point gap between the two sides.

Unfortunately, though, even when Messidependencia was a more legitimate debate, Barcelona have still been fairly rampant against whatever the rest of La Liga throws at them.

In their last 10 matches without Messi—all of which occurred this year—they have won nine of them, with that solitary defeat coming against Bayern.

Those 10 games have resulted in 23 goals at an average of 2.3 goals per game, which is slightly down on the 2.9 goals the Catalans are averaging in Spain's Primera Division this season.

Carlo Ancelotti and everyone else at Real Madrid won't care if their rivals' goals tally is down, though, it's their points tally they want to see to take a tumble.

Which brings us round to Barca's fixtures sans their No. 10—in total it's anticipated he'll miss five league games, returning for Atletico Madrid in the middle of January.

Opposition	Date	Venue
Granada	23/11/2013	Camp Nou
Athletic Bilbao	01/12/2013	San Mames
Villarreal	14/12/2013	Camp Nou
Getafe	22/12/2013	Coliseum
Elche	04/01/2014	Camp Nou

It's the two in the middle of those five fixtures—Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal—that pose the greatest threat to Barca's unbeaten start and offer the biggest shimmer of light to Real Madrid.

Athletic remain unbeaten at their new San Mames stadium, sitting fifth in La Liga, while Villarreal, fourth in the table, have already taken points from Real and Atletico Madrid this season—albeit at El Madrigal.

And while Barca have been 100 percent in La Liga without Messi, there have been cases when they struggled to score.

At home to Levante in April they struggled to find a breakthrough, eventually relying on a Cesc Fabregas strike in the 84th minute, while away against Malaga this season they struggled to the same 1-0 scoreline.

Since then, though, and under Gerardo Martino, Barca have appeared to evolve into a team less reliant on Messi in some ways.

Have they got over the psychological barrier that seemed to hold them back when they were without their star?

Or is it the arrival of Neymar and the emergence of Alexis Sanchez that has helped them move away from Messidependencia?

Either way, it means that Messi's injury is not as significant for Madrid as it would have been one or two years ago.

What is more encouraging for fans of both clubs in the Spanish capital is the mounting injury list at Camp Nou.

Xavi Hernandez and Cristian Tello have this week incurred knocks, via The Independent, while Victor Valdes hobbled off in Spain's defeat to South Africa on Tuesday night.

If Granada don't provide a shock this Saturday, then Real and Atleti's eyes will be locked on the efforts of Athletic and Villarreal in the coming weeks as Barcelona's injury problems mount.

Follow @samuelmarsden