Sunday was a better day for Lionel Messi. In the Camp Nou, he scored his 500th career goal, an achievement which his coach Luis Enrique said was from “another galaxy”.
It had been, by Messi’s standards, a long time coming. Between February 14th and March 16th, Messi scored 13 goals for Barcelona. His goal on Sunday night was his first since that day.
Unfortunately Messi’s 500th goal came in another defeat, this time against Valencia. Barcelona have taken one point from 12, exited the Champions League and thrown away a nine-point lead at the top of La Liga in the last few weeks.
Losing three consecutive league games for the first time since 2003 was always going to encourage talk of a crisis, and while it may be possible to isolate each loss and explain it away, there has been an alarming drift in recent weeks which can of course be connected directly to Messi’s loss of form.
Goal number 500 for club and country for Lionel Messi.
It's not bad, like pic.twitter.com/kWktPE8KK8
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 17, 2016
On Wednesday night against Atletico in the Champions League, Messi didn’t have a single shot on target and created only one chance. He completed 15 passes in the attacking third of the pitch. When Barcelona beat Atletico in La Liga at the end of January, Messi completed twice as many passes.
So maybe Messi and Barcelona can take some comfort from his goal last night and his intergalactic achievement, but right now they can’t take comfort from much.
After the Valencia defeat, Luis Enrique was angered in the post-match press conference by a journalist who wondered if the club’s physical preparation was right.
Enrique will be under pressure, but he is trying to manage forces beyond his control, not just the form of arguably the greatest player the game has ever seen, but the ongoing off-field problems that the player is dealing with.
Messi and his father will be in court next month on tax evasion charges which they deny. Messi is also taking legal action after he was linked to tax evasion projects in the Panama Papers leak. Messi described the allegations as “false and libellous” and promised to sue the media outlets which had made the claims.
With that pressure, it may be understandable if his performances have been affected, but Barcelona will hope that his goal on Sunday leads to a return, because there have been other worrying signs.
The sight of Gerard Pique playing as an emergency centre-forward suggests a lack of imagination on the part of Luis Enrique.
Suddenly Enrique looks like the coach who was in danger of losing his job in January 2015, before the Messi, Suarez and Neymar frontline fell into place and a new version of the team was born.
As they claimed another Champions League, Enrique was now coach of the team with a forward line which was being described as the best the game has ever seen.
Andres Iniesta described it as the best forward line in history, but the view from within the club was echoed by many others.
How much this had to do with Enrique is debatable but if Barcelona’s season continues to unravel, it will probably be concluded that he is the man to blame.
Their Champions League exit was only the second time since 2008 that they haven’t reached the semi-finals.
Two years ago they were knocked out by Atletico in the quarter-finals as well and Messi’s performances were questioned, with many wondering if he was saving himself for the World Cup.
It turned out that he wasn’t as Argentina reached the final despite Messi lacking the energy and explosive genius which many had expected.
Last season, everything seemed back to normal, if by normal you mean the extraordinary.
With the addition of Luis Suarez to the forward line, Barcelona played a different game, but it was explosive and unstoppable.
For much of this season, it remained as compelling. In February, Messi, Suarez and Neymar scored five of the six goals in a 6-1 win against Celta Vigo. When Messi passed his penalty into the path of Suarez – even if it was intended for Neymar – it seemed to sum up the verve, togetherness and arrogance of the frontline.
At that stage they had scored 86 goals between them in the season. There have been another 24 since, but they have all been diminished by Messi’s loss of form. Since he scored his 499th goal for Argentina against Bolivia, Messi hasn’t provided an assist.
The enormity of Messi’s genius is that you could argue that his astonishing goalscoring record is only a fraction – maybe a large fraction – of the influence he has had for Barcelona.
Suarez has been a stunning addition, as much for the manner in which he lifted the performances of those around him. They are three supremely gifted players who collectively are greater than the sum of their parts.
For Messi, at 28, there will be other questions, especially when his trial begins. He is expected to extend his contact at Barcelona, but it could be that, come the summer, he decides that he has been worn down too much by the trials he must endure.
In Spain, it is not hard to find those who believe that everything can be traced back to the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It has been pointed out that the official who is responsible for insisting Messi and his father stand trial for tax evasion is a former secretary to the Real Madrid board and worked under Florentino Perez.
Zinedine Zidane ruled Madrid out of the title race a few weeks ago, but they are now back in contention.
There may be further consequences. In the summer, Pep Guardiola arrives at Manchester City. He will have a transformative effect on that squad, but he will need new players as well.
Could Messi decide that the time is right to break his bond with Barcelona? His advisors will certainly want to suggest that the time is right in their negotiations with the club, but maybe City will interest him as more than just a negotiating tool.
This slump may be a temporary problem for Barcelona, but recovery depends, as it has for so many years, on Messi remaining the central figure in all that they do.
