How Lionel Messi evolved at Barcelona this season

-Facing stiff competition from Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi evolved his game to stay ahead of the curve

-In the 2013-14 season, Messi suffered a few injury setbacks, went trophy-less with Barcelona and was beaten to the Ballon d’Or

-Luis Enrique envisaged a much quicker and direct style for Barcelona after he became the new coach

-Messi could no longer feature in his favoured role as the false nine in previous seasons

-With Xavi in the twilight of his career, Enrique recognized that Messi wouldn’t necessarily get the service he needs and preferred to play him as an attacking midfielder

-Messi’s ability as a playmaker came to the fore and he began creating a lot more chances for the team

-He was credited with more assists while retaining a good goal-scoring ratio

-Enrique chose to deploy Luiz Suarez as a centre forward with Neymar on the left and Messi on the right

-Together, the attacking triumvirate forged an unstoppable goal-scoring machine and brought the very best out of the four-time Ballon’Or winner

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the best footballer on the planet. However, it’s not as if his title goes unthreatened.

Even a superstar like Messi needs to evolve to stay ahead of the curve especially when he faces stiff competition from Cristiano Ronaldo who relentlessly lays siege to his throne.

The 2013-14 season wasn’t a particularly good one for the Argentine. He suffered a few injury setbacks, went trophy-less with Barcelona and was beaten to the Ballon d’Or by the aforementioned Portuguese star.

Something had to change and fortunately for Messi, that’s exactly what Luis Enrique had in mind when he took over at the Camp Nou for the following campaign.

The Spanish coach envisaged a much quicker and direct style for Barcelona which inadvertently meant that their revered talisman could no longer feature in his favoured role as the false nine.

While that caused friction between the pair during the initial transition, it was a success in the long run.

With Xavi Hernandez in the twilight of his career, Enrique recognized that Messi wouldn’t necessarily get the service he needs and preferred to play him as an attacking midfielder from where he could be more involved.

As a result, Messi’s ability as a playmaker came to the fore and he began creating a lot more chances for the team.

He was credited with more assists while retaining a good goal-scoring ratio. However, the dynamic changed once Luis Suarez was properly integrated into the first team after serving his suspension.

Enrique chose to deploy the Uruguayan as a centre forward with Neymar on the left and Messi on the right.

Together, the attacking triumvirate forged an unstoppable goal-scoring machine and brought the very best out of the four-time Ballon’Or winner.

The team’s build-up play was a lot quicker as the idea was to get the ball forward quickly and allow the front three to do the damage.

Messi was instrumental as he adapted to his new role perfectly.

Playing from the right flank meant he was afforded more space and was able to cut inside and exploit pockets of space.

His pace and phenomenal dribbling would often get him into shooting positions on his stronger left foot, something he regularly took advantage of.

Just when critics began to announce his decline, an inevitable fate that is suffered by every player, Messi found an extra dimension to his game and his lengthy rein at the pinnacle of world football was given a new lease of life.

The little maestro finished the season having either scored or assisted a whopping 86 goals, 10 more than he managed in his record-breaking 2012-13 campaign.

What’s even more gratifying as far as he’s concerned is that Barcelona won the treble as well, humiliating the mighty Bayern Munich in the Champions League along the way.

It just goes to show the genius of Messi despite moving into different positions.