BERLIN: The most fearsome attack in world football has fired Barcelona to the verge of their fourth Champions League title in a decade.

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar have scored 25 of Barca’s 28 goals on the way to the final and few are betting against them leading the club to a record second treble on Saturday.

With one game still to play, the Barca trident has scored 120 goals in all competitions this season, bettering the mark of 118 set by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain in 2012.

Not only do they score goals, however, they create them too, and it is the nature of their unselfish play that has seen them reap the rewards and cause havoc to opposing defences.

In contrast to the famed “BBC” of Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real, Barca’s trio work together to create space in which the others thrive.

Suarez has been the main beneficiary. Despite a slow start — a start delayed further after his fourth-month ban for biting Italy and Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup — the Uruguay forward has contributed 24 goals in his debut season at Barcelona.

The delicate touch he displayed to control the ball before firing Barcelona to victory over Real in March illustrated why the Catalan side took a chance on the immensely talented but controversial player.

Suarez is arguably the “missing piece” Barcelona was looking for after a trophyless season in 2013-14 under Gerardo Martino

Neymar too appears to have matured. Still only 23, the Brazilian is in his second season at Barca and seems to have toned down flamboyance for greater efficiency.

BARCELONA’S (L to R) Luis Suarez, Javier Mascherano and Lionel Messi arrive at the Tegel Airport.—AP

He has scored 38 goals this season, including decisive goals in important games, not least the injury time-strike against Bayern Munich that gave Barca one foot in the Champions League final with a 3-0 semi-final first leg result.

He scored twice again in the second leg for a 5-3 aggregate win.

Messi remains the undisputed star, though. Despite not playing as an out-and-out forward the Argentine has bagged an incredible 58 goals alone in this campaign.

If he scores again against Juve on Saturday Messi will be the first player to score in three Champions League finals, having also found the net in Barca’s 2009 and 2011 triumphs.

The 27-year-old’s mere presence causes consternation in opposing defences, which often resort to man-marking, sometimes with more than one defender.

This is turn creates more space for his companions and very often proves futile in any case as the elusive Messi always looks capable of gliding past defenders.

Suarez is the tallest of the forwards, yet is hardly a giant at 1.81m (5-foot-11). Neymar is 1.75m (5-foot-9) and Messi is 1.69m (5 foot-6). The latter certainly uses his low centre of gravity to his advantage, as Diego Maradona, another Argentine great, did before him.

By Messi’s exceptional standards 2014 was a year to forget. For the first time in six years he went trophyless at club level with Barcelona, whilst arguably his best ever chance to win a World Cup with Argentina came and went.

MESSI BACK ON TOP OF THE WORLD

His listless performances particularly in the latter stages of the World Cup, despite being controversially named player of the tournament, led many to believe he could never return to the level that dazzled as he became the first man to win four consecutive World Player of the Year awards between 2008 and 2012.

There was little indication as January began that it would be a memorable season for Barca and there was a notably frosty relationship between Messi and Luis Enrique which put in doubt the future of the coach.

With the aura that Messi holds at the club there could only be one winner in that confrontation and Luis Enrique abandoned the continual switching of players and tactics to focus on a settled side where the emphasis was on the forwards.

Since their much publicised bust-up following the first game back after Christmas against Real Sociedad, Messi has been given a free rein to torment opposition defences which he has done to devastating effect.

“Last year I had an inconsistent season. I was out for a long time due to injuries and I missed a lot of matches. When I returned to the field I never felt right,” Messi admitted recently.

“It was a year I tried to forget quickly and recover my best form thanks to the joy, hard work and effort that I have always had and thankfully now I feel very good.”

Messi’s change in physical state has come about thanks to a radical change in diet. The 27-year-old has lost a reported 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pounds) since starting to work with Italian dietician Giuliano Poser at the start of the season.

A noticeably more slimline Messi has not only got to the end of the season in prime physical condition despite playing all but 70 minutes of Barca’s full La Liga and Champions League campaigns, he has recovered the pace in short bursts that makes him practically impossible to stop.

He put Barca on course to win the Copa del Rey last weekend with the opening goal, the first of a double, which will go down among the best he has ever scored, when he left four players trailing in his wake with a mazy run.

“Leo is like an extra-terrestrial,” Barca and Argentina team-mate Javier Mascherano told reporters. “We are very fortunate to be able to see him do it in the flesh.”

Juve have defied the odds to get back to the top of the European game, but the task of not just stopping Messi but also Neymar and Suarez may prove one too far. Messi may have dropped his weight, but his hunger for titles remains undiminished.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2015

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