Even When He Was Silent, Messi Was Noisy

JAKARTA - Being Lionel Messi is not easy, with high hopes that are placed on his shoulders every week. In fact, when he produced what kept Barcelona's season alive, he was still criticized.

This is what happened to the Rosario-born star this season. However, Messi has been the only consistent player in the Barcelona team who hasn't always been convincing this season.

Statistics show that without Messi, Barcelona would not have fought their La Liga title race against Real Madrid until their death this year.

Messi has been directly involved in more than half of the club's goals this season, either by scoring goals or providing assists.

Barcelona must thank him for 54 per cent of the 80 goals scored in La Liga this season. Messi leads Barca's path with goals (22) and assists (21), meaning that his contribution really speaks for itself.

The 54 percent figure makes La Pulga's fourth highest season in terms of his direct involvement in Barcelona's total goals.

Only in the 2011/12 (58 0.7 percent), 2014/15 (57.3 percent) and 2018/19 (55.5 percent) seasons did Messi have a greater percentage of goal engagement than the 2019/20 season.

These statistics once again give rise to the argument that Barcelona are too dependent on their star players and when Messi is not at his best then the team suffers.

Although Luis Suarez has been very influential for Los Blaugrana, he hasn't produced his best tally of goals so far. He also lost playing minutes due to injury.

Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann's signing has yet to ease the pressure on Messi in the same way that Neymar joined Barca.

It is clear that Messi remains so important to Barcelona and it is interesting to note that he does it in a slightly different way.

This is the first time La Pulga has scored a few goals since 2007/08. On the other hand, he has never provided as many assists as he has now in his career at Camp Nou.

In other words, even when he is silent - because he is unable to bring Barca to the top of the standings - Messi is still noisy with the technique he shows on the field.