Barcelona Aren't Lionel Messi Dependent, but Squad Depth May Cost La Liga Title
The first big matchup of the new La Liga season saw Barcelona overcome Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon by a 2-1 scoreline, in a match Los Cules dominated for long stretches. It was hard going for Barca to find a breakthrough, and they needed to come from behind in the end.
Fernando Torres scored the opener for Atleti, before Neymar immediately levelled with a free-kick—leaving substitute Lionel Messi to grab the winner late on.
It took Messi to claim the points for the titleholders, but that alone doesn't imply a dependence on the Argentinian—Atletico are a phenomenally strong unit defensively. However, it's true that Messi was the only fallback option available to Luis Enrique on the day—and that lack of depth in the Barcelona squad is what is going to cost them the chance to retain the title this year.
Bench
Injuries, suspensions and summer sales forced the issue for the Barcelona manager, but the fact remains that of their seven choices on the bench, only one—who would not normally be there—looked remotely close to being a game-changer for them.
"Barça substitutes: 25 Masip 21 Adriano 15 Bartra 24 Mathieu 17 Munir 19 Sandro 10 Messi #FCBlive #AtletiFCB
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 12, 2015"
A third-choice goalkeeper, three defenders and two young, talented but utterly unproven forwards—and Messi.
There was no option for Enrique to shuffle his pack, short of bringing on a defender and putting Javier Mascherano into midfield, if injuries or poor form struck anywhere but where it did: Thomas Vermaelen, suffering a calf problem.
Even once Dani Alves returns, the front line is the MSN trio or Rafinha asked to play more advanced; that's all that Barcelona have, for all three competitions, in terms of senior players until the winter transfer window, when Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal can join in.
It's unrealistic to expect that none (or indeed Andres Iniesta or Ivan Rakitic) will need resting, suffer an injury or see form drop when asked to play Liga and Champions League, twice almost every week, for the next three months.
Breaking Down Atletico
Barcelona created chances on goal and certainly should have scored before they eventually did, with Luis Suarez striking the woodwork and Rakitic forcing a great save from Jan Oblak early on. They also could have had a penalty for handball, as could Atletico, but the referee on the afternoon was in a particularly forgiving mood throughout the encounter.
Despite those few chances and half-sights on goal, it was certainly when Messi came on that the movement and tempo of play stepped up another level around and inside the Atletico penalty box. All of a sudden the blocks from Josema Gimenez and Diego Godin weren't quite coming in on time, the deep Atleti midfielders weren't winning the loose balls quite as quickly and there always seemed to be an extra Barcelona shirt inside the box to swap passes with.
Messi's quality needs no extolling by now, but it was still an astonishing moment of quick reactions and ice-cool composure that settled the encounter, matched only by the finesse of the first-time pass by Suarez who assisted him.
Without Messi being the extra factor, roving wherever he wanted to and in the left channel of the box on the actual occasion of the goal, Barcelona simply wouldn't have managed that victory.
Marathon, not a Sprint
They did win though, and that's nine points from nine—they're the only team of the top three from last season to have a 100 percent record even at this early stage.
However, look at the differences in selections between the three even in this third gameweek: Real Madrid brought in Casemiro, Isco, Dani Carvajal and Pepe for their game; only Isco had started a match previously this season.
They hammered Espanyol 6-0 and got to rest the likes of Toni Kroos and took off Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos nice and early. Atleti finally gave a debut off the bench to Luciano Vietto, while Jackson Martinez and Yannick Carrasco—over €60 million worth of signings between the trio—also featured as subs against Barcelona.
Both Madrid sides have enormous depth in their squads compared to Barcelona and, with the relentless necessity to win game after game in La Liga to mount a title-winning run, that ability to rest and rely on different senior players will have a telling impact over the longer term.
Game to game, Barcelona can beat anybody on the planet, they showed that often enough last term, and this win at Atletico is a poignant one for morale, points and pleasure. But for the next 14 or so Liga games, plus six Champions League fixtures, the Copa del Rey and the FIFA Club World Cup, Barcelona are essentially looking at a core of around eight players to fill the front six positions.
It's not enough, and over that many games, it will have a telling impact—which could feasibly see them drop enough points to be too far back to recover in the second half of the season.
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