A few simple questions:
1. if we are winning today because of MSN, then how we won 2 CLs in Pep's 4 years, and how we won 6 trophies in one Season, if we had such an average attack/system which was easy to shut down?
2. further, if all the success lies only with MSN, then why were we so crap last Season with 2/3 of MSN trio (Messi-Neymar), which is, by your logic, still much better than Messi-Alexis-Pedro or any other "average" attacking trio from those Seasons?
-- how come that even Messi+Ney alone couldn't win against Atletico last Season in 6 attempts
-- and how come that we couldn't score goals against any team in the 2nd part of the last Season?
Also, you need luck in football also.
We were lucky both in 1992 with some goals in injury time in knockout rounds, plus we were somewhat lucky in 2006' finals.
We were extremely lucky in 2009 against Chelsea, and we were extremely unlucky in 2010 and 2012 against Inter and Chelsea.
It is not that simple, to say that MSN are the reason for everything.
For the end, we had a godlike Messi back then, look how many chances he missed in that match:
-- also, we didn't have MSN back then, but we had Iniesta and Fabregas who were very lethal midfielders, plus our whole system built around Tiki-Taka way much different
The first one we won (under Pep that is) we had Messi-Eto'o-Henry (not the crap Henry of 09/10) and Xavi-Iniesta-Alves were at their absolute best. Now all three of Xavi-Iniesta and Alves have declined significantly. We also faced much weaker opponents in 08/09. The only team that caused us trouble (and almost knocked us out) was bus-parking Chelsea. The first big European side that ever chose to not play any kind of football against us.
Similarly, in 10/11, again Xavi-Iniesta were almost as good as in 08/09, and Alves had only declined a little bit. Messi was an absolute beast, and the opponents we faced were again weaker than those we faced this season (Arsenal with 10 men, and Shakhtar in the QFs) Moreover United in the final were quite underwhelming. From the first five minutes or so, when they were desperate to surprise us with an early goal, I was absolutely certain that the game was ours to lose. Also, Villa and Pedro were quite good in that season. To be certain, not nearly as good as this year's Suarez and Neymar, but pretty good nevertheless. Real Madrid also had to play with 10 men against us.
When I was referring to disappointing Messi-partners, I was clearly referring to the Henry of 09/10, Ibra, Alexis (no crucial CL goals in the entirety of his Barca career) Pedro after 2011, and Villa after he broke his leg.
Let me put it also in another way. If this season with our MSN, we also had prime Xavi-Iniesta-Alves, the opposing teams would be well advised to forfeit the games. They would all have lost much more badly than they already did. I know that tiki-taka allows for the opponent to set-up defensively somewhat, but in their prime, Xavi and Iniesta did not just pass the ball sideways as so many people now seem to believe. The ball, and our players moved with speed, creativity and imagination. MSN with prime Xavi-Iniesta behind them, and a 26-year-old Alves bombing up and down the right wing would have been pornographic/scandalous/illegal and outright horrific for our opponents. If there was a way to have such a team for next season, the bookmakers would offer 1.10 for us to win another Treble. Not joking or exaggerating here.
You say we had 2/3rd of the MSN last season. Well, there is a big difference between 2/3rds and 3/3rds, right? Moreover, did we really have 2/3rds of that last season? Both Messi and Neymar had several serious injuries throughout the season, which not only meant that they missed lots of games, they also had their rhythm constantly interrupted. Moreover, Neymar was only 21/22 last season and was playing in European football for only the first time in his life. So, not only is 2/3rds very different from 3/3rds, but we did not even remotely have 2/3rds last season in any case.
So, what I say above largely explains why we could not beat an excellent defensive side like Atletico Madrid last season. This season, with in-form Messi-Neymar, plus Suarez, Atletico have been taken to the cleaners by us. Remember that Atletico this season have been every bit as impressive as last season more or less. They defeated the European Champions multiple times, the beat Juventus in the CL group stage, they topped Juventus in goals scored and conceded as well and only went out of the CL once down to ten-men in the Bernabeu. Yet, our MSN-led team, beat them quite easily on two occasions. In the final CdR fixture at the Calderon, they Atletico players went a bit mad if you can recall. MSN broke their spirit, just let me remind you of this:
I also do not understand why you mention that Messi missed chances in some games. Of course he did, and that is exactly the importance of having MSN.
The odds of all three of them missing chances in the same game are almost zero (not zero, but almost) while the chances of any one of them missing are substantial.
As mega as Iniesta was (my favorite all-time player) he was never a goal-scorer. He gave a lot for the team and made it great, but he could not score the goals we needed most of the time (Chelsea
)
As for Cesc (a player I still rate highly) unfortunately he did not fit our style of play (especially the tiki-taka) and we played him out of position most of the time. He was more of a liability than an asset in the CL if we are being honest. He was also always out-of-form for the season-deciding games in spring. Always started exceptionally well, and then fell apart.
This was some lucky Messi back then?
