Barcelona Should Trust in Neymar's Form for El Clasico and Bench Lionel Messi

The final international break of 2015 interrupts La Liga this week, but all eyes will be on the Spanish top flight once it resumes with a bang: El Clasico the scene, Santiago Bernabeu the stage.

Real Madrid and Barcelona will fight it out for early supremacy at the top of the table. After almost a third of the way through the season, the Catalan club have the upper hand at present after a tremendous run of results—even though they have been without key players through injury, including one Lionel Messi.

While Real have also suffered their share of sidelined players—Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale, most notably, against Messi, Andres Iniesta, Rafinha and Ivan Rakitic for Barcelona—they have not coped quite as well as their fierce rivals.

Including the match where Messi picked up his injury against Las Palmas, Barcelona have played 10 games, winning eight and losing just once at Sevilla—the other was a draw in the Copa del Rey against lower league side Villanovense with a below-par lineup. In the same period, Real's nine games have yielded only five wins, three draws and a single loss...also against Sevilla, coincidentally.

Messi is reportedly close to a return to fitness in time for El Clasico, as noted by Marca and by club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, also per Marca. With the form the team have been in, though, and with Messi's importance to the season overall and his prior fitness issues, the most prudent and positive course is for Luis Enrique to leave Messi among the substitutes at best and trust in the other components of his team to pick up a favourable result.

Messinjuries

First things first: nobody in their right mind would leave a fit Messi out of the team, at any point, for any game. He's the best player on the planet and has had a tremendous year up until October—but the season is about far more than a single game, and Barcelona intend to compete on four fronts again this term.

They'll need him for more than just a single game in isolation, even if it is El Clasico, and Messi's more recent injuries give credence to the idea that he shouldn't be rushed back.

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

The hamstring injury suffered by Messi in late 2012-13 saw the club try to rush him back for the UEFA Champions League run, but after returning too early, he suffered continual niggles and was unable to play anywhere near full capacity. He didn't start a league game after March and was an unused substitute in the semi-final defeat to Bayern Munich.

They can't afford a similar scenario now before the new year, with minimal options to rotate the front line in the squad until Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal can be registered.

Messi's injury means he has missed nine fixtures already, five of those in La Liga. It has been eight years since he missed more than seven league games in a single season; there's far more upside to resting Messi one game further than there is for pushing him to an early return if he is not completely ready.

M and SN

Along with Neymar and Luis Suarez, Messi makes up a third of the so-called MSN forward line—the most feared and fearsome attacking trident in world football, perhaps. However, the remaining two-thirds have been doing just fine of late without the No. 10.

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Barcelona's last 16 La Liga goals... #Suarez #Neymar pic.twitter.com/FCrIAPaKE9

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) November 8, 2015"

Brazilian and Uruguayan, without the Argentinian.

Considering the salary and transfer costs of the two, it's not a huge surprise that they should have such quality within them to drag the team on to continued highs, but their consistency and matched selflessness has been the really impressive aspect of their play over the past few weeks. There is where their world-class talent is truly on show.

JOSEP LAGO/Getty Images

They are clearly as comfortable with each other off-field as on it, and the way the duo have played together—not just in scoring, but also in their movement in tandem, in setting up chances for each other and for different team-mates—has been the most stunning and exciting reason to watch Barcelona since Messi's absence.

Barca centre-back Gerard Pique cites a lack of ego as a key point in their relationship, per Marca:

"

The key of these three is the relationship that they have. You can see that on the pitch. It's magnificent. Because the only problem when you have players of this magnitude is the ego. Suárez was the main star in Liverpool, Leo before we had Suárez and Neymar; it was just him. And how they connect - they do not have any ego and this is the most important part.

Neymar is the best one-on-one. He is unstoppable. You have Leo Messi who is the most complete player in the world - he can attack, defend, he can head the ball even though he is small. And then you have Luis Suárez and his first touch in the box is fantastic.

"

Real Madrid's defence has struggled at times this season, with goalkeeper Keylor Navas to thank in particular for their mean goals-conceded column. Suarez and Neymar together will give Real an awful lot to contend with, even if Messi is not in the side.

This run, those goals

Football, and Barcelona's style in particular, cannot be about one single individual, but there is also no doubt that a truly star performer playing at the top of his game can elevate the team above and beyond the sum of its parts.

JAVIER SORIANO/Getty Images

For Barcelona, year after year, that has been Messi—but this last month has shown that Neymar is the real deal, too. The No. 11 has had every adjective thrown his way, and each have been merited: outstanding, world class, outrageous, talismanic, unstoppable.

National team manager Dunga hailed his compatriot as being better than the world's most acclaimed duo at present, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, per Marca: "Neymar is playing at a superior level because Messi is injured and Cristiano Ronaldo hit a very high point last year, and that's why a lot is being demanded of him now. He is stepping to the fore [with Messi out]."

Since the start of October, Neymar has scored 10 and assisted six in just seven matches, a tremendous output indeed. His goals have owed just as much to individual creativity and inspiration as they have technical excellence and composure.

"

A lunchtime look at THAT #Neymar goal again. Just because. https://t.co/X5DIk1pc3j

— Unibet (@unibet) November 9, 2015"

Win-win?

Game in isolation or not, there's no chance anyone connected with Barcelona wants to lose the match against Real Madrid—and vice-versa.

The Catalan club are, however, in a great position with none of the pressure on them: they're top of the table by three points at present, so at worst, they will be joint-top after the game.

Avoiding defeat means they maintain a gap between themselves and Real Madrid; a six-point gap with a win would be a huge advantage at this early stage and would also shift even further pressure onto Real and their boss, Rafa Benitez.

Away from home, there is less pressure on Barcelona to win. Without their best player, it's the same scenario. There is no situation in this particular fixture that forces undue negative attention and headlines on the side, thus no need to risk Messi's fitness.

Impact

Of course, benching him is not the same as not using him at all. Messi on the bench (fit or not) sends the message that he is there to be used, that no matter how well Real perform during the fixture, there's still something even better to throw at them later on.

It's psychological warfare from the sidelines on Barcelona's part, but it also gives confidence and self-belief to the likes of Neymar and Suarez—and Munir if he starts, for that matter—that the coach trusts in their abilities in such a big game.

And if things don't go to plan and Messi has recovered sufficiently to play a part...well, there couldn't be a much better impact substitute to help out, could there?

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