Lionel Messi's Legacy at Barcelona: Greatness and Over-dependence

Great players come and go, they define an era of their teams and the sport itself. They produce moments that we tell to younger generations decades after, the innovate the game that many follow what they did and their success adds to their immortality. Pele defined the Brazil side of 1958 to 1970, Johan Cruyff defined the Netherlands team in 1974, Franz Beckenbauer defined West Germany and Bayern Munich during the 1970s, Diego Maradona defined Napoli and Argentina during the 1980s, Ronaldo Nazario defined the 1990s, etc. There's without a doubt that Lionel Messi has defined Barcelona over the past 15 years producing incredible moments, taking Barcelona to the top of world football and has rarely let his performances drop despite being in his 30s and seeing Barcelona's decline as a force in the European game. Now, he's finally leaving Barcelona after an emotional press conference on Sunday confirming he is leaving the club where he came in as a 13-year-old from Rosario, Argentina. So, how can we define his Barcelona legacy and where does Barcelona go now that he is gone?

Messi's numbers over the years for Barcelona has been absolutely staggering. Since making his first-team debut for the Catalan club in 2003, Messi has made 778 appearances for the club, 11 more than second-placed Xavi and 104 games more than third-placed Andreas Iniesta. Unsurprisingly, he is Barcelona's all-time leading goal scorer with a whopping 672 goals, achieving that fate at just 24 years of age. He's the all-time leading goalscorer in La Liga with 474, scored 120 goals for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Scoring more goals for a single club than any other player in the competition's history. Scored the most goals in a single La Liga with 50 during the 2011/12 season, scored more goals in El Clasico and the Derbi Barceloni, he was the first player to score five goals in a Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, scoring more goals in a calendar year with 91 and won 35 trophies at the club. The most by any player in the club's history. All of these records, club trophies and individual awards the man has won really makes you wonder whether he is really human.

Despite having incredible players around him throughout his spell from Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Deco, Victor Valdes, Carlos Puyol, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Luis Suarez, Neymar, Ivan Rakitic, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, etc, he was the face of the team whether it was him as a bright young star in his earlier years, the lynchpin of the tiki-taka era or the experienced captain he is now. Many thought he can be Barcelona's Francesco Totti. A one-club man, having seen great players come and go from the Camp Nou, he was a constant which gave an assurance of comfort from Barcelona fans. Despite his tremendous success, there have been those who have questioned Messi whether he can play without Xavi and Iniesta, he's staying in his comfort zone or why he did not 'show up' for Barca in some of Barca's defeats in recent years like the 3-0 defeat against Roma or the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool. These criticisms of Messi have been futile or just non-existent.

The Messi at 19 years of age is not the Messi at 34 years of age. Messi remains fantastic and gives defenders shivers but he has evolved over the years and the eight managers he has played under at Barcelona have utilised him in different ways. During his younger years, he was more of an inside forward, under Guardiola during the tiki-taka era, he was deployed as the centre-forward or the false nine. During Enrique's tenure, he was the creative outlet of the front three whereas now, he's dictating the game more as a playmaker as his physical attributes diminish. As far back as Guardiola's final season to now, there has been a case that Barcelona has relied so heavily on Messi. When you have a player that good, you would want him as your wildcard and match-winner. At the same time, it affects the other players to take the initiative themselves as they would rather give the ball to Messi and see what happens. Barca's over-dependence on Messi over the past few years have kept Barcelona competitive but not at the level to win the top honours.

With Messi now out of the picture, what does it mean for Barcelona and La Liga? Messi's departure is a watershed moment for the club as they have to look at other players to step up. Nobody can replace Messi but some could rise to the challenge whether it's Antonie Griezmann, Ansu Fati, Pedri or Frenkie de Jong much like how Casemiro and Karim Benzema stepped up for Madrid when Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid. However, stepping up to talk the reins from a player of that magnitude could crumble players as well, as they cannot fill the enormous boots that Messi filled even wearing the number 10 shirt as well. It is still early days but the next three or four years will be interesting to see where Barcelona will be. For La Liga, it is a massive loss as they have now lost possibly the biggest name in world football. From Neymar leaving Barcelona in 2017 and Ronaldo leaving Madrid a year later, La Liga has lost some big names and now that Messi is leaving Spanish football, it could affect viewership not just from international viewers but also those in Spain as well with the pandemic hitting La Liga really hard.

Messi's story at Barcelona is one that was beautiful at the beginning, close to perfect but went really wrong at the end that we got the conclusion we did not want. But from the superhuman numbers, incredible longevity, brilliant highlight reels and goals that shook the world, Lionel Messi has defined Barcelona throughout his spell and leaves a legacy that will not be matched ever again. Gracias, Messi.