Any team seeks a talisman to lift them from their current situation.
In every era, legends are created and oftentimes play their peak years for one club whose fans will worship them until they die. It doesn't matter if it's Tim Cahill at Milwall or Lionel Messi at Barca, a legend will forever be remembered for their accomplishment for the main team they played in.
In Leo's case, he has dedicated his whole career to the club he loves the most and that has given him an opportunity at the top level.
Without Barcelona's aid, Messi's potential would've perhaps never been unveiled but the genius has repaid his club in full and the Catalans are now in debt with the Argentine.
The goalscorer gave his all to bring multiple trophies to the Camp Nou and is now closer to his retirement date than his debut at Barca, which occurred over 15 years ago.
This moment, in which we will all cry according to Jose Mourinho, is dreaded by most football fans, other than Alvaro Arbeloa who is counting the days until La Pulga retires.
When Messi leaves, to Newell's Old Boys or to retirement, football and Barca will go back to normal.
Managers wouldn't have to worry about the poison that is Leo for opposition defences and the Cules couldn't rely on their star to bail them out every time they're in a bit of trouble.
Barcelona would have to cope without a player that has shaped its history throughout the years, one of the few players that can be compared to Johan Cruyff, the player, in terms of impact in football. Hence, many aspects of their game would be compromised without him.
Game plans:
Along with Sergio Busquets, Messi has been in nearly every team sheet any manager has elaborated if he was available since Pep Guardiola's stint at Camp Nou.
Leo doesn't play in a system, he is more often than not the system's lungs. Without him, the Catalan managers' tactics would collapse at the moment player would set foot on the pitch.
Just imagine a setup with an inside forward on the right that doesn't have half of the six-time Ballon d'Or winner's talents especially when a game isn't totally controlled by the Blaugrana midfield.
Often, Messi is forced to make runs with the ball coming from deep and it would not be sustainable to have a player who doesn't have the ability to dictate the play as much as him.
It would absolutely shatter the team tactically playing without their talisman.
Statistics:
Statistically, no one has ever been better than the winger ever since he started blooming in La Liga.
Excluding the current interrupted campaign, there hasn't been one season where the Blaugrana captain hasn't had more than 40 goals since 2008/09, and even then he was agonizingly close with 38 goals. However, he broke the 50 goal-mark on seven occasions since then and even broke the record for most goals in a year with 91 in 2012.
On the other hand, he has broken the tally of 20 assists 4 times since playing under Pep, even managing 28 in the 2014/15 treble season.
So it's fair to say that the Rosario-born legend has carried Barcelona in terms of goals and assists and he has been the main creative forward the club has had in every trident he has played in, outscoring the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, David Villa or Luis Suarez in his illustrious career spent with legendary trios in which he was always part of.
So it's fair that finding a replacement for Leo seems a bit unrealistic since he has scored numbers that couldn't even be possible on console games.
The team would suffer massively from his departure on the statistics part of the game and Barca would end up losing a lot more games, granted no one owns up.
Barca is not all Messi:
Messi is perhaps the biggest part of Barcelona nowadays.
Nonetheless, he is not the only part of the team he plays in.
Throughout the years, he has had great teams. Of course, he was the star of those teams but Xavi and Iniesta were equally as important to the midfield as Messi is to the forward line and the Cules found a way, whilst not always finding it directly.
The Blaugrana side's busy transfer windows made them achieve the signings of Arthur or Frenkie De Jong after the magic duo's successive departures.
Besides, the board has already prepared for the aftermath of Messi leaving by buying younger attacking talents.
Indeed, Francisco Trincao and Ousmane Dembele, while the latter hasn't set the world on fire in Catalonia, are examples of signings that will come at Camp Nou while the talisman vanishes from the streets he once owned.
Young, rapid, skillful wingers with an eye for a goal to replace at least La Pulga's profile in the team will be needed at the club and the board definitely has the means to buy them or nurture them like Ansu Fati. For that to become a reality though, they should pay a lot more attention to La Masia.
Games won without Messi at all or at his best.
Leo is human, even though fans and fellow players do not want to believe it.
Because of this fact, he gets injured and tired like every other player at the highest level. That means that in some games, he is not at 100% and his teammates have to step up.
Indeed, there are those games where someone steals the spotlight. Players like Suarez who can dethrone Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of goals and therefore golden boots are more than needed for the team to remain competent.
In the past, the team has shown they're not all about Leo Messi.
The games won at Madrid's expense are prime examples.
In 2015, the 4-0 at the Bernabeu was played without a convalescent Messi for most part of the game and the team showed their true colours without their forward.
In 2018, bis repetita. The Blaugrana outfit won 5-1 at Camp Nou against their fiercest rivals with Luis Suarez bagging a hat-trick. Later on in the 2018-19 seasons, Malcom was the first saviour in the Copa Del Rey first leg at Camp Nou while Ousmane Dembele created two of the goals in the 3-0 win that occurred in the reverse leg with Suarez also bagging two. Further in the league that season, Ivan Rakitic's solitary goal was enough to dismantle Los Blancos in their own stadium.
Barcelona have history when it comes to winning without Messi or his gargantuan help. After all, they shall not be regarded as a one-man team because they are not for most games.
Then, is it all solved?
While Leo isn't Barca and vice versa, there will undeniably be a transition period for the Cules that might cost them a league title or two but they will bounce back. Big clubs seldom suffer from a big dip when their talisman leaves. For example, Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement from football did much more damage to Manchester United than any manager, player or board member and they haven't won one league title since Robin Van Persie's legendary volley in 2013.
There will be a mountain to climb for the Blaugrana side but they will probably find a way out and this with or without overspending heavily to find a player with a legacy that can rival Messi's.
All in all, Barca will not be as doomed as some people make it seem but it will not be an easy road for Cules when leaves. Subsequently, Barcelona should prepare for this apocalyptic day.
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