So what you're saying is - because Neymar and Suarez brought you an edge that you didn't have before, they de facto become more important than the coach and equally as important as Messi? That makes zero sense to me. Tell me this, was Villa more important than Xavi and Iniesta for the 2010/11 season? As far as I can see, all the other players were already there in 2009/10 and the main cause for Barca's downfall was lazy Ibra who didn't move enough and disrupted the fluidity in the front line. Replacing Ibra with a mobile attacker who guaranteed goals and had already played with most of the Barca players in the Spanish national team was a game-changing transfer. Does that however mean that Villa was more important than Xavi-Iniesta?
"As always setting the record straight?" - lmao that cracks me up. You're easily one of the most defensive posters on this forum.
Do you deny that Barca faced Bayern at the perfect time? Yes or no. Could Barca have faced Bayern at a better time? Yes or no. Could Bayern have done better against Barca had they had Ribery, Robben, Martinez and Alaba? Yes or no.
Did Bayern face Barca at the perfect time in 2013? Yes or no. Would Barca have done better against Bayern with Messi? Yes or no.
Our players are more important than the coach. Players in general are far more decisive than managers in deciding the outcomes of football matches. Give Pep the players that Stoke have, and Jose the players that Cordoba have and let's see what they can do. I don't think that this point is remotely worth arguing. People over the internet vastly overrate the influence that managers have over the game.
The point under discussion, was not who is best out of our front three, which is of course Messi. The point of discussion was what was the reason for Barcelona's improved performance this season, and especially in big games. Clearly, the factor behind over our much improved fortunes, are Suarez and Neymar. Before these two, we had players like Ibra, Alexis and Pedro who failed time and again in these tough CL games where Suarez and Neymar simply dispatched one big team after the other. So yes, the X-factor behind our excellent CL-run unto this day were S and N. I repeat, Messi on his own, or Messi plus Alexis and later-day Pedro would have never managed to score that many goals and create than many chances versus City/PSG/Bayern. I hope that answers your question.
BTW, Iniesta missed both semis vs Inter in 2010. He was there for all the big CL games in 2011 though. Moreover, the analogy you are attempting to draw between Villa and Suarez-Neymar is completely false. Villa only scored 2 times in 7 games in the CL knockouts of 2011. Neymar and Suarez have scored 10 goals in 6 and against far stronger opposition overall. Additionally, Xavi and Iniesta were still very much in their prime in 2011, so obviously they were a mega-factor. We have no such luxuries in midfield anymore, anyone who does not acknowledge this should stop commenting on Barcelona completely. This season, our forward line has carried the load for our success. Sure every-single player helps in their own ways, but just ask anyone who they would take out of our team.
Of course I deny that Barca faced Bayern at the perfect time. Like I have been asking on this forum for months now, please tell me, what big European side (and how) have Bayern beaten in the last two seasons, even with Ribery/Robben/Alaba on? I am still to get a reply. If anything, Bayern played far better against us, than in other of their games these past two seasons. Both you and Ryu should just accept that Barcelona have been the best team on the continent this season, full stop.
Could have they done better against us if they had those players available? Maybe, maybe not, who knows? How many times are you and Ryu gonna remind us that Alaba, Ribery, Martiniz, Robben and Badstuber were missing? Remember that they had those players when facing Real Madrid last season. What good did it do? They also had them against Shaktar in Lvov. Please remind of the scoreline that night. So again, they had those players on many instances throughout the season, yet were they any better than us?
As for 2013. Messi being fully fit would have been great, yet how many times have you seen me banging on about it? In any case, no matter what, I think that Bayern would have beaten us that season (not 7-0 of course, but we would still go out) since we had serious issues against Milan and PSG as well.
Moreover, you forget what I have been saying all along. Messi is not just someone we can remotely hope to replace. On his own, he is more influential than all of the players that Bayern were missing recently. We also completely lack Bayern's strength in depth.
Lastly, you saying:
Perfect time to face Bayern
did not come after Robben was injured, but after a dead-rubber Bundesliga game in which they lost, again clearly
implying that we were fortunate to have faced a crumbling Bayern team.
