Barcelona's margin of error drops with Messi's injury layoff
MADRID --
The silence that fell over Camp Nou at eight minutes past four on Saturday told its own story. Suddenly, the stadium was housing tens of thousands of expert doctors and surgeons. These spectators looked to one another anxiously, pessimistically, craned their necks to look for signals from the crumpled figure lying on the pitch, surrounded by colleagues each making their own diagnosis.
"When Leo Messi goes down and asks to be substituted, you know it's something bad," said Sergio Busquets, the Barcelona midfielder on the topic that dominated matchday six of La Liga. "He is not the type to complain." Busquets, too, turned in a locum medic. "It's not going to be a matter of one or two weeks that we're without our main man. It will be longer than that, and of course we will notice his absence."
A few hours later, a definitive expert opinion followed a hospital examination of Messi's left knee ligament damage, sustained in a challenge from Pedro Bigas barely had Barca embarked on what would be a 2-1 win over Las Palmas. Seven or eight weeks of recuperation will be needed before the Argentinian can expect return to action. Which puts the important fixture on Nov. 21 as a tantalizing target. Barcelona face Real Madrid that evening.
Messi has a tear in the internal collateral ligament of his left knee. He will be out for around 7-8 weeks pic.twitter.com/TLor97gmou
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 26, 2015
The last time Leo Messi missed a game due to injury was on 10 November 2013 http://t.co/iZjs4JYSFP pic.twitter.com/oWm2uRcVKw
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 26, 2015
Barcelona can win without Messi, and the attacking partners Barcelona's leading goal-scorer works most effectively with, Luis Suarez and Neymar, did after all manage 64 goals between them in 2014-15, a campaign in which Suarez, who scored both the goals on Saturday, was suspended for the first two months. But the timing of this injury, and the length of the absence is what troubles the club's strategists. "It will be a big test for us," said Luis Enrique, the head coach. "But it can also be a stimulus."
There is never a good time for any team to be without one of the greatest soccer players in history, never a safe period for a Barcelona whose game plan so centers around Messi to formulate different roles for Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta so that Messi's work and responsibilities are spread around. But this is a bad time. Over the summer Barcelona signed high-class new players, notably Arda Turan, who will certainly provide vigor and skill on the right flank. Because of Barcelona's FIFA-imposed ban, a penalty for having infringed rules on the signing of players under 18 years old, Turan cannot register to play until Jan. 2015.
Munir El-Haddadi replaced Messi against Las Palmas, but to ask a player who only turned 20 this month, and has played only 12 La Liga matches in his career, to cover for a genius would be fanciful. The sale of Pedro, the Spain international winger, to Chelsea in August now looks a cause for regret.
Then there is the matter of Barca's form. Victory against Las Palmas, newly promoted to the Primera Division, at least returned the team to winning ways, after the 4-1 midweek defeat at Celta Vigo. Yet Saturday's result also returned Barcelona to an awkward habit: Of victory by the narrowest margin. Four of Barca's five wins so far in La Liga have been achieved with the advantage of a single goal.
Take out Messi, and the margin for error drops. He is the game's supreme match-winner, the man who, more than any other player, most consistently conjures the moments to unlock the cagiest defense. Barcelona's only good news is that their next two months of matches, excluding El Clasico against Real Madrid on the penultimate weekend of November, contain few obvious hazards, and several fixtures that should be winnable by more than one goal. The ominous dates without Messi include Seville on Saturday -- although Sevilla have not been anywhere near their best for most of the season so far -- and when they take on Villarreal, who have been strong, on Matchday 11.
Missing Messi for a long stretch is a relatively rare experience for recent Barcelona coaches. Though he struggled with regular muscle injuries in his teens, his diligence in conditioning work as he matured into a leader and emblem of Barcelona has meant long absences have been quite rare. He did miss 11 matches, across competitions, of the 2013-14 season, the only season since 2007-08 which he has finished without a major club trophy.
Barcelona dropped points while was recuperating from a muscle complaint then, in a defeat against Athletic Bilbao, and in a 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid, where he made his comeback and played for 45 minutes. Might a fit Messi for that period have made a difference? Quite likely. Atletico finished La Liga in first while Barcelona settled for second. Both clubs had equal points.
Might his long-term absence affect voting for the 2015 Balon d'Or, the World Footballer of the Year prize for which he is favorite? It is possible, although his usual, fierce rival for that award, and the holder, will hope to make greater profit from Messi's low visibility these next few weeks than he did on Saturday. Cristiano Ronaldo squandered chance after goal-scoring chance in Madrid's 0-0 draw at home to a Malaga whose goalkeeper Carlos Kameni had a superb day. Rolando was visibly vexed to draw a blank, Madrid supporters audibly frustrated at points dropped at home. Barcelona fans meanwhile looked at that result as one piece of benign news on an otherwise gloomy day.
