Lionel Messi is emphatically proving wrong everyone who thought he was past it with some mind-blowing statistics in 2021.
The Barcelona superstar was written off at the start of the season due to his unhappiness as the club struggled on the pitch.
AFP
We all know the story. He wanted to leave, the club wouldn’t let him and he reluctantly stuck around for at least another season.
What it did prove is that Messi is perhaps human after all and those outside influences did really have an impact on his game.
He scored a mere ten goals, and recorded one assist in the first 18 games of the season, a run of games that included defeats to Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
It left Barcelona well off the pace in LaLiga, with Atletico seemingly running away with the title.
AFP
But things changed. Josep Maria Bartomeu, someone who was the source of much of Messi’s frustrations, stepped down as club president and was replaced by Joan Laporta in March.
And since the start of the year, Messi has been on a remarkable hot streak that has dragged Barcelona back into the title race.
In just 12 games, he has scored 15 goals and added seven assists so far in 2021. Unbelievable numbers even by his standards.
On Sunday, he broke Xavi’s record all-time appearance record, stepping out for the club for the 767th time, and scored twice.
Messi has also been involved in a goal or assist in each of his last 14 LaLiga games in a run stretching back to December. He managed just one in the first six games of the league season.
Barca are the form team in LaLiga right now having not lost in the league since a shock 2-1 defeat to Cadiz in December.
Ronald Koeman’s side are now just four points off Atletico Madrid with ten games to go.
Lionel Messi's improved form
2020 statistics
Games: 44
Goals: 26
Assists: 19
2021 statistics
Games: 12
Goals: 15
Assists: 7
They still have to play both Madrid teams, but if they can overturn the deficit it would likely be one of the most remarkable title wins in the club’s history.
Although they were dumped out of the Champions League, there is the Copa del Rey final next month against Athletic Bilbao.
The club has been mired in problems this season from the presidential crisis, eye-watering debt and arrests made over the ‘Barcagate’ scandal.
Messi appears to be happier than he was at the Catalan club and the election of Laporta has undoubtedly increased the chances of him staying.
AFP
Barcelona's key fixtures
Real Madrid (a) – April 10
Athletic Bilbao (Copa del Rey final) – April 17
Villarreal (a) – April 25
Atletico Madrid (h) – May 9
Laporta said last week: “I am here to make decisions, like convincing Leo to carry on, taking advantage of the fact that he is here. He knows that.
“You know the affection I hold for you and we will do whatever it takes to keep you here. You know you cannot leave, Leo.
“We will not be able to do it alone. As our anthem says, we are strong all together. More so in these most difficult times. We know how to do it.
“When the pandemic is over our revenue will return. That will be fixed. There will be strong leadership, because I am well-accompanied. We will make decisions.
“To defend the club you have to live and breathe it and we do that as much as possible.”
AFP
Koeman has also made public his desire for Messi to stay, telling the Athletic in February: “It was a difficult time because he’s still the best player, but he was angry.
“He was not happy that he was in a team who lost 8-2 against Bayern Munich.
“He wanted to leave. I said to the club, ‘okay, it’s not my problem. It’s a problem between the club and Leo Messi. And you have to resolve that’.
“Finally the club said, ‘okay, we don’t make a transfer for him. He needs to stay’. It was a difficult time for Leo but he finally accepted [the situation].
“I spoke to him in his house before we started the season, and I made plans with him and he was really enthusiastic. Finally, little by little, he accepted that situation.”
Barcelona fans want him to stay and he’s showing once again that even at 33, there’s plenty more for him to give.
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