With Barcelona underperforming every week Lionel Messi’s performances have been recently put into question. They have been nowhere his usual standards and some journalists have already started saying that the end is near for Lionel Messi.
A lot of a player’s form depends on his morale. With the thrashing at Lisbon to Bayern Munich and the departure of Luis Suarez Messi’s morale has taken a huge setback. Although recently he has said that he is “excited” about the future still his happiness remains in question. Next comes the factor of tactics. Under Ernesto Valverde Messi was a goalscoring machine.
He scored 70 goals in 70 appearances under Valverde in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaign. Most of the time Messi was used as a right winger from where he could cut inside onto his magical left foot and do what he does best. Under Setien his goals dried up as he was employed mostly as a central attacking midfielder or a striker which his not his preferred position.
He was providing assists then as he broke the record for most number of assists in a La Liga season. Under Ronald Koeman Messi plays as the lone striker or a support striker which again is not his role. As a result his goals have dried up and people are questioning his performance and his commitment to Barcelona.
But Messi is much more than just goals and assists. Messi ranks first in most successful dribbles per match and most shots on target per match. He ranks 4th in key passes and 2nd in big chances created by a player. This goes to show that even if Messi isn’t on the scoresheet or not providing assists he still dominates the game.
So the simple answer to the question of Messi’s end being near is NO.
