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Messidependencia returns as Barcelona stutter in Bilbao

Usually the moments of game-changing magic are saved for Lionel Messi but in his absence, one man stood up to take centre stage.

38-year-old Aritz Aduriz had been on the pitch for little over a minute before he was bicycle-kicking his team into a shock win.

In La Liga's opener, Barcelona looked tepid. Antoine Griezmann may have hoped it would be he would provide the magic but in the opening stages it was Iñaki Williams, albeit for the other team.

For a manager already under fire, it was the worst possible start to the new campaign.

Points dropped in the opening games used to be no major cause for concern. Chalk it up to pre-season not being quite right or players not being fully fit and relax in the warm comfort that you have 30+ games to rectify the mistake.

Nowadays, with the relentless nature of modern football, a defeat is approaching terminal. Aside from Barcelona, every Champions League semi-finalist from last year won their opening game and their old foe Real Madrid came through unscathed against Celta on Saturday.

A more reasonable opinion is that no, this is not a disaster, but it did show worrying signs of patterns that have been emerging.

Building a team around one of the greatest players to ever play the game is not a bad idea but it has left a Lionel Messi shaped hole in the side whenever the Argentine is not there.

His influence, commonly referred to as Messidependencia, is huge but where Barcelona seem to struggle is adapting to his absence. There is not another team in Europe that seems so lost when one player is unavailable.

The Catalan's record in the last six games with the Argentine does not make for favourable reading:

Inter 1-1 FCB
Levante 2-1 FCB
Sevilla 2-0 FCB
Huesca 0-0 FCB
Celta 2-0 FCB
Athletic 1-0 FCB

Thankfully for Valverde, Messi is due to return next weekend but if he were to sustain any kind of long term injury this season, Barcelona as a trophy candidate would be under serious question.

The arrival of Griezmann was meant to ease the load on Messi but he struggled to find any resemblance of form in the first game. Not helped by the sight of Luis Suárez leaving the field in the first half.

The last time Barcelona coped without Messi was in the 2016/16
season when a certain Brazilian was at the club.

In nine games, Neymar register 11 goals and 6 assists and became the focal point of the team.

Perhaps this form was what planted the seed in his mind that a move away may be the best for his career but with the PSG dream not panning out the way he may have hoped, this does offer some clues as to why Barcelona are so keen to get him back.



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