BarcelonaAlthough there is still a small gap in terms of the possibility of a new twist in the events that allow to see Leo Messi continuing to channel the Barça game, the impossibility today to register the Argentine star “due to obstacles economic and structural (regulations of the Spanish league) “draw a completely new scenario in the team. For more than a decade, Barça’s game has been understood around the figure of the Argentine. It started as a fast and naughty winger on the right wing under Frank Rijkaard, marveling first at Fabio Capello at the Gamper and then leaving memorable nights, losing the stirrups to Del Horno at Stamford Bridge and disguising himself as Maradona in a goal cartoon against Getafe. His figure did not stop growing and his football evolved to elevate the position of false new to the excellence in the golden cycle of Pep Guardiola. Then, he would return to the band with the arrival of Luis Suárez and forming a trident with Neymar who would win the treble again, this time with Luis Enrique. During all this time Messi has always been the team’s conductor, alternating in recent years the right wing with the midfielder and the front and even falling circumstantially in the positions of a midfielder. .
Messi’s footprint describes much of Barça’s history over the last 15 years and imagining the team without the Argentine involves an exercise in football fiction. If he does not continue as a Barça player, the hypothesis that Barça will be on the market cannot be ruled out, although the entity’s economic situation will continue to mark the room for maneuver for Barça’s managers. The most recent precedents in the official match of the Catalan team without Messi are explained by shared leadership and a more choral work in the pressure, a task from which the Argentine star was often exonerated to reserve his efforts for its decisive offensive contribution. Without the Rosario player, all eyes will be on Antoine Griezmann, whom the club ratified a few days ago after trying a possible return to Atlético through an exchange with Saúl Ñíguez that Barça did not accept without money in the middle. The French striker, always questioned for his incompatibility with Messi due to the fact that they play similar roles and have a tendency to occupy the same spaces, will automatically take the gallons as a catalyst for Barça’s offensive production.
Who will be the center forward?
In this sense, when the Frenchman shone brightest before landing in Barcelona, he had had a point of reference in front of him that fixed the central teams of the rival team. A role that Memphis Depay could play at Barça right now, despite the fact that due to his origins as a winger they also make him a striker with a greater tendency towards mobility and falling into different positions in the attack, or Ansu Fati, immersed in the final stretch of his recovery and that last season, before injuring himself, he began to show that he can play as a striker. Third, it remains to be seen what physical condition Agüero is in and what regularity a player chased by injuries last year may have. In addition, the former City was signed more as a gesture to Messi than as an explicit request from Ronald Koeman. A fourth option, much more remote (added to the fact that the club plans to transfer him), would go through Braithwaite.
In any case, despite Griezmann taking on the role of Messi’s conductor, the Frenchman has stood out throughout his career for being more of a footballer with punctual and decisive strikes – especially at Atlético and with France, leaving side the last European Championship -, while the Argentine is a monopolizer of the game in a team that has always worked with the premise of getting the ball, as the most decisive and decisive footballer. Unlike Messi, the former striker was not exempt from defensive tasks, one of the facets that has been valued the most, although at the same time he has been called for more impact in terms of goal. Griezmann has played in 99 games for Barça, scoring 35 goals and 17 assists. And, for his part, Messi in the last two seasons has participated in 91 clashes: he has seen goal in 69 occasions and has distributed 41 assists.
The debate over the system intensifies
Depending on the scheme chosen by Koeman, a decision that will also be substantially affected by the farewell of the Argentine, the other pieces that would make up the attack would go through Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho, two players who are now injured: the French winger, who only has one year left on his contract, could return in early November, while the Brazilian is on the final stretch of his recovery, although his continuity at Barça, at least until yesterday , was not guaranteed. The 18-year-old Yusuf Demir, who has arrived on loan from Rapid Vienna, is another option. Álex Collado, a footballer who is not to the liking of the Dutch coach, is out of the discipline of the first team pending the closure of his transfer to Bruges.
However, ahead of the start of the league on August 15 against Real Sociedad, Barça’s eleven most likely would be a Memphis striker, Griezmann and, if Koeman opts for a 4-3-3 , Demir (with the option that Agüero, which will be released in the Gamper, can start from scratch, or even Braithwaite). If he chooses to play with three central defenders as in the last game against RB Salzburg, the tipping point would be for Memphis and Griezmann.
Recent precedents without Messi
Last season, Barça played seven official matches without Messi: two in the Champions League (wins by a landslide against Dinamo Kiev and Ferencváros); three in the league (victories against Elche and Eibar at home and a draw at home against the Basque team); one Cup (the victory against Cornellà), and the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Sociedad, a duel resolved in the penalty shootout in favor of Barça. In these matches, Barça scored 14 goals and conceded two. The scoring production was shared between Braithwaite (4), Griezmann (3), Dembélé (3), De Jong (2), Dest (1) and Riqui Puig (1). Imagining the team without the best player wearing the Barça shirt is a difficult exercise to digest. To look for the most outstanding performance without Messi in recent years you have to go until 2018, a match against Real Madrid (5-1, October 2018) in which Luis Suárez scored three goals.
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