Barca have only won 19% of games without Messi

Everything that we know. Ernesto Valverde is the first one to recognise it, life without Messi is very different. In fact, there will be a before and after in Barcelona when the boots no longer fit.

While that great drama arrives, now the Catalans are going through another on a smaller scale. Their star has not been able to debut, nor are the medical reports clear about when he can reappear. So ProFootball experts, the BeSoccer laboratory, have scientifically measured what it means to play in the League without Messi.

When it is said that to play with Messi is to have life insurance there is no lack of reason. After 14 years in the first team (he has not yet debuted in this one), Barcelona have won 75% of the matches he has played while he has been on the field, as a starter or entering from the bench. Life darkens without him, the percentage drops almost 19% when he is not present.

In total, Barcelona have played 452 league games with him and 114 without him. The result?: 339 victories, 70 draws and 43 defeats, to 64, 28 and 22 respectively. Barca have only lost 9.51% in 14 years of Messi.

It is not usual to see Barcelona without their key man on the field. Removing the year of his debut, in full transition to the first team, and the next, in which he broke the fifth metatarsal of his left foot and missed out on up to 21 league games, his physical strength has been habitual.

And it was no coincidence: Guardiola arrived in 2008 and began to improve his eating habits. Since then, it has been over thirteen years of disputed clashes. Only some occasional fibrillary rupture and the rotation policy of trainers left him without minutes. Draw attention to the 14-15 season, in which he participated in the 38 games.

Two worlds: Home and Away

Another interesting fact: his absences have been much more painful away from Camp Nou. Messi has played 225 home games for Barça, of which he won 147, drew 47 and lost 31. Without him, 58 games, with much more even data: 24 wins, 16 draws and 18 losses. Said in two ways: Barça wins 24% less away meetings without him and have lost almost triple (from 13.78% to 31.03).

The Argentine 'crack' soon showed his influence: he won the seven games he played in the season of his debut (04-05). It was in the 11-12 campaign when he achieved his greatest leadership skills; scored 61.26% of goals and league assists of the team. He sublimated himself with his best historical records: 50 goals and 18 assists

Has he weakened as the years have gone by? Far from it, in fact, quite the opposite. In the last four leagues he has been raising his contribution: 42.86%, 45.19%, 50.54% and 59.76% of the last year.

The defeat in Levante two years ago prevented Ernesto Valverde from winning the competition without defeats. Messi can say it, because he was not present that day. The Argentine added 27 wins and nine draws in the 36 games he had played.

Although there are also campaigns in which it can be said that Barça did not miss their key figure at all. Four leagues have been completed without defeats in the games that Messi missed. Interestingly, all consecutive from the 09-10 course until 12-13. A total of 15 games that resulted in 13 wins and two draws.