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Without Lionel Messi in their ranks, Barcelona would still have been favourites to win the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. It just would have been much more difficult.
Luckily for Luis Enrique, the Barca players, supporters and everyone concerned with the Catalan club, Messi was fit and firing on all cylinders as he has been for some time now, blasting the home team in front with an astonishing run in from the right flank past several rivals and an inch-perfect drive past Iago Herrerin.
No other player in the world would have been capable of producing such a stunning strike, but Messi managed to when it mattered most - after a strong start by Athletic had seen Barca tested and even pushed back on occasions.
One moment of sublime skill and tremendous technique changed the course of this game, just as it has so many more in the past. From a position that barely seemed dangerous, Messi skipped past Mikel San Jose, nutmegged Mikel Balenziaga and flew past Mikel Rico on his way into the area, where he rounded Aymeric Laporte and then flashed an unstoppable finish inside Herrerin's near post. He has scored some crackers in his time, but few can better that one.
"It was one of the best goals in the history of the game," Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu said afterwards. "I didn't see Messi's goal clearly," Luis Enrique added. "But I'm looking forward to watching it on TV and enjoying it."
Barca could have been in front earlier on as Neymar's effort was ruled offside when he had looked on. And the Brazilian did later make it two as he finished from close range after good work from Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez.
But it had all started with Messi - as it almost always does. Again, the astonishing Argentine attacker was the difference between good and great. Until his divine intervention, the game was in the balance. But after it, there was only one winner.
The 27-year-old later added another with an opportunistic finish as he poked home a Dani Alves cross. That made sure of a comprehensive victory and saw yet another trophy - this time the Copa del Rey - secured in front of the jubilant Camp Nou crowd.
One more win in Berlin next weekend and it will be another treble for Barca, with the Catalan club in line to become the first team to claim all three trophies in a single season on more than one occasion. They did it in 2008-09 and now they can repeat the feat in 2014-15.
"Without Leo, we would be a strong team, a competitive team," previous coach Pep Guardiola once said of the Argentine. "But we wouldn't have been able to achieve all that we have."
Likewise Luis Enrique's current crop. The Asturian coach deserves credit for turning things around after all their problems at the turn of the year and getting the best out of players like Suarez, Neymar, Gerard Pique, Rakitic and more.
But Messi makes the difference for this brilliant Barcelona team. He always has and, at 27, he probably will for some time to come yet.
