Barca better than last season

The demolition of Roma followed hard on the heels of Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of arch rivals Real Madrid in La Liga, when Messi made his return from injury for the last 30 minutes, and on current form Barca appear unstoppable as they seek to defend the treble of titles they won last season.

The 28-year-old completed the final 34 minutes in the match at the Bernabeu and although he didn’t score or create a chance, he did complete 84% of his passes against Los Blancos.

“If this Barca team go on as they have been, they will draw comparisons with Guardiola’s team”, he said.

Their attacking displays have helped Barca top La Liga with 33 points from 13 games, four more than Atletico Madrid and nine ahead of Real Madrid, who face Eibar on Sunday.

Lionel Messi hopes that his partners in crime, Luis Suarez and Neymar will share the Ballon d’Or podium with him, Bleacher Report reports.

“Barça was too strong, as they were against Real Madrid”, he said. I see the fans enjoying this team.

“[Jeremy Mathieu] is a very important player for us because he can play two positions at a high level”.

Neymar and Suarez kept the goals coming in while the Argentine was absent for two months with a knee injury and the trio have now netted 30 times in total in the league this term.

A fleet-footed Neymar burst in front of the Sociedad defense to open the scoring after 22 minutes before a spectacular Suarez volley doubled the advantage just before halftime. While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have had their ups and downs over the last few years, the pair’s dominance in the prestigious Ballon d’Or award demonstrates their sustained quality over the course of each and every season.

“Messi has fitted back into the side, I saw Suarez pressuring after 92 minutes, Neymar pressuring and it is the same as we have been playing before. I’m sure Ney and Luis think the same way-if that is the way it turns out [the three of them as Ballon d’Or finalists] then great and if not it doesn’t matter”, Messi said when asked about the possibilities of MSN making it to the top three contenders for the Ballon d’Or.

Both his strikes were set up by Suarez and Enrique singled out the No. 9 for praise.

“We are doing things very well, but there is a long way to go”.

Another clean sheet means the Catalan team have now conceded just twice in their last eight games in all competitions – while the Asturian coach able to give run-outs to back ups Jeremy Mathieu, Adriano Correia and Marc Bartra.