Unlikely as a comeback was we will now never know if Messi could have pulled off the impossible.
It's funny how between 2008 and 2011 I always read on other forums about Messi relying on Xavi and Iniesta, in fact I couldn't make a comment on any sports site without someone returning with that reply. I rarely hear it any-more. When our team handed the league on a plate to Madrid last year Messi never gave up and kept us in the race, this year he has lead a team going downhill to a very impressive La Liga title.
The team's decline has affected everyone, we simply are not the team we were during the the peak of the Guardiola era, yet somehow Messi has not looked like he has been affected in the slightest.