5 Barcelona Players Who Merit Same Champions League Acclaim as Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi will rightly hog the headlines for a truly stunning individual performance for Barcelona against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
With his two goals against Bayern, he once again leads Cristiano Ronaldo in the competition's all-time scoring stakes.
However, on the night, it wasn't all about Messi. The 3-0 victory was a truly wonderful team performance.
Every Barca player can stand tall after a superb night's work.
Let's take a look at five players who merit the same acclaim as Messi.
Dani Alves
1 of 5
Barcelona need to tie Dani Alves down to a new contract. Quickly.
When the Brazilian is on his mettle, as he was against Bayern, there is simply no one better in the wing-back role.
Dynamic and incisive for the most part, Alves was also efficient in defence, which shouldn't be downplayed. How many times has he had to endure commentary from various media that he isn't up to it defensively?
As the Germans wilted in the second half, Alves' superior fitness told and he was able to raid down the right flank time and again.
His assist for Messi's first goal was a mixture of tenacity and awareness and capped a fine contribution.
Ivan Rakitic
2 of 5
Ivan Rakitic is the type of player Barcelona have waited years for.
Capable of playing in any of the midfield positions with no drop off in quality, Rakitic's versatility is his biggest asset.
So it proved again last night. He dropped into the holding role when required one minute, bursting forward at pace the next.
His tackling was on point too in an all-action display.
He won back the ball in the sequence leading up to Messi's second, and his pass to the Argentinian to put him in a one-on-one with Jerome Boateng, summed up the Croatian's evening perfectly.
Gerard Pique
3 of 5
Gerard Pique has to be one of the players of the season for Barcelona.
The centre-back gave another colossal performance at the heart of the Catalans defence.
Robert Lewandowski was identified as Bayern's danger man despite his obvious injuries, but he barely had a sniff all night. That tells you everything about Pique's magnificence throughout.
The one time he was caught out of position, the Pole wasn't able to capitalise.
Pique kept things simple and effective. Did he even misplace a pass?
Luis Suarez
4 of 5
Luis Suarez has 24 goals and 14 assists this season, per WhoScored.com. He added to neither on the night, but he certainly added to his growing reputation.
Lest we forget this is a player who missed the first three months of the season.
His workaholic presence as part of Barca's attacking triumvirate allows Messi and Neymar to go about their work with ease.
Kicked all night long, the Uruguayan got up and got on with it.
He'll be disappointed not to have broken the deadlock early on, but Manuel Neuer should be given credit for a fabulous save.
Like a miner chipping away at the coalface, you can always rely on Suarez to put in a shift. Against a tidy Bayern back line, Suarez went about his work with the usual aplomb.
He didn't score, but so what?
Javier Mascherano
5 of 5
Aside from the huge presence of Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona had to contend with the guile and creativity of Thomas Muller.
One of the unsung heroes of German football, Muller was exceptionally well contained throughout, for which credit has to be given to Javier Mascherano.
The Argentinian was the player of the last World Cup, and throughout this campaign, he has provided the same high level of quality.
Quality that was in evidence once again against the German champions.
However, despite a superb individual and team performance, Mascherano told Sky Sports after the game:
"Now we know how difficult it will be in Germany. It is a good advantage, but it is not done. We have to keep the mentality and go in with the same mentality that we went in with today and try to do our jobs.
"
His standing ovation was well deserved.
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