Can Barca Manage Without Messi?

Messi could be sidelined until the end of 2013 after suffering his latest hamstring injury during Barcelona’s Primera Division match against Real Betis, with Barca’s medical team estimating he will be out of action for around six to eight weeks.
Barca’s unbeaten run so far this season under Martino, even in the absence of their charismatic Argentine has provided the perfect answer to suggestions that they are over-reliant on a single player-Lionel Messi.
Messi has had a scrappy season thus far scoring just 8 of 38 of Barca’s league goals, having accounted for almost 40% of Barca’s league goals last season. But the team has kept on winning regardless - even against Real Madrid, where Messi had an unusually quite game considering the standard that he has set for himself.
Even last season in the defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Messi’s absence could not be ignored. So what has brought Barca’s end to the over-reliance on Messi?
Well, the more direct approach employed by Martino has allowed other players to come to the fore, with Neymar and Fabregas becoming pivotal figures in the team’s attacking play. Also the fact that Pedro and Sanchez have already registered 13 league goals this season, having managed just 15 in the whole of the previous campaign is not letting Messi’s absence felt.
The season is still young and statistics can be misleading. So it is too early to suggest that Messi has suddenly become superfluous and Barca can have a smooth ride to the title. Messi remains Barca’s most important player and the man they will look to be the difference maker in the crucial games at the end of a gruelling season.