In a recent interview with Sqwauka, Messi confirmed what nearly any soccer fan in the world could already tell you: Suarez and Neymar are some of the best teammates he has ever had.
"I had a great connection with Ronaldinho. I played with Samuel Eto'o, with Thierry Henry, with Pedro, David Villa, Alexis [Sanchez].
"But I have to say that it is hard to top lining up alongside Neymar and Suarez. They are two players at the top of their games.”
“I’ve said before that with Neymar’s quality, touch and fitness, he can become the best in the world – and Luis is the same. His touch, vision, his movement, his instinctive play, are incredible. We all offer something different, and make each other better.”
Making each other better just might be a candidate for biggest understatement of the year. The trio has scored 120 goals in all competitions this year. A ludicrous number, one that could separate this team as one of the best of all time should they complete the treble against Juventus next Saturday. Inside those 120 goals are 81 league goals, which as the graphic below shows, is a higher tally than that achieve by entire teams, and we aren’t talking about Burnleys of the world. Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, and Arsenal all failed to score as many league goals as Barcelona’s front three.
Photo: sqwauka
When a trio is as prolific as Messi, Suarez, and Neymar (MSN), one wonders what motivates them to keep up their incredible rate of production. Needlessly, apparently, at least where Messi, the triumvirate’s leader, is concerned.
"Motivation is not something I struggle with," he explained. "I love playing football, I love being in training, the day-to-day life is fantastic.”
"When you have success, you just want to repeat it again and again. It is the best life I can imagine. I want to achieve as much as it is possible to achieve with this team."
And there you have it: the key to the success of the best player of all time. He is addicted to winning, much like Charlie Sheen was addicted to tiger blood, only with much less drug use and fewer prostitutes. Besides, it’s not like Messi has problems with the ladies.
Messi would go on to add that losing the World Cup Final was a major let down, a let down that he used to motivate himself for this season. That strategy has seemed to work very, very well. After a slow start to the season, and a post Christmas team crisis, Messi has arguably reached the finest form of his life. Just ask Boateng:
or Athletic Bilbao:
Those goals happened within the span of a month, a month in which Barcelona has gone from Champions League contender, to outright favorite. That transition is in no small part due to Messi, Suarez, and Neymar: the best that Barcelona has ever had.
Follow Ivan on Twitter: @yetly
