In the Champions League quarter-final exit to Atletico Madrid, in last weekend’s La Liga defeat to Granada and in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey Final loss to Real Madrid.

Ten days ago, Barca were fighting on three fronts — looking to emulate their treble triumph of 2009.

Now the Catalans only harbor slim hopes of retaining their La Liga title.

Barca face high-flying Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and although they have a game in hand, they are seven points behind leaders Atletico — the team which so efficiently ended their hopes of European glory for a fifth time.

The second-leg of their quarter-final tie, in which Koke’s early goal secured a 1-0 victory for Atletico which saw them progress 2-1 on aggregate, was the first game in which Messi went AWOL.

Playing on the right wing, Messi failed to carve open the Atletico defence.

He ran just one mile more than Barca goalkeeper Jose Pinto at the Vicente Calderon.

Messi failed to inspire Barca again in their 1-0 defeat to Granada before being upstaged not by Cristiano Ronaldo — the man who disposed him off the Ballon d’Or this year — but by Gareth Bale who scored a stunning late winner in Real’s 2-1 win at the Mestalla.

Is the Argentine exhausted or is he saving himself for glory at the Maracana come July 13?

Messi has made no secret of his desire of playing in the World Cup final.

“I hope Argentina reach the World Cup final … whether it is against Brazil or whoever, it would just be dream come true to play the final,” Messi said on his unveiling as global ambassador for Gillette in February.

And a victory for the Albiceleste at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic stadium will certainly lift him to the level of Diego Maradona in his home country.

For all the titles he’s won at Barca, the World Cup has eluded him.

At the 2010 edition, he failed to spark an Argentina side that was thrashed 4-0 by Gemany in the quarter-final.

Messi turns 27 on June 24 and he would believe at the peak of his powers it is in Brazil he has the best chance of winning the World Cup.

It has led to suggestions Messi is trying to save himself from burnout so that he can final impress at the World Cup and single-handedly inspire Argentina to the title — just like Maradona did in 1986.

“If the team works well, if the team defends well, if the team recovers the ball easily, if the ball goes through Messi’s feet with a high percentage, he will have the chance to prove just how good he is,” former Argentina coach Cesar Luis Menotti told German news agency DPA this week.

Messi has shown his brilliance in flashes throughout the season but he hasn’t particularly exerted himself.

“The thing is that Messi is expected to pull a rabbit out of the hat every game, when he is the most marked man, and that’s hard,” Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde said in the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash.

Maybe that.

Or maybe because Barca coach Gerardo Martino has played him on the right wing rather than his usual position in the centre.

Former Barca coach Radomir Antic likened that to the situation the Catalans faced when Louis Van Gaal asked Rivaldo to play on the wing in the 1999-2000 season.

“Messi did not do much running because the coach told him to play as a winger. This was Messi’s way of saying: ‘if you want me to play on the wing, I will do just that’,” Antic told Goal.com.

“This situation is pretty similar to what happened between Van Gaal and Rivaldo. Van Gaal forced Rivaldo to play on the left and, each time he got the ball, he just passed it back.”

The club supporters, however, have been less than forgiving on Messi.

He was also amongst a group of Barca players who were abused by supporters at the end of their game against Granada.

After their defeat to Real, one of the Barca fans asked him to ‘have an energy drink’ because ‘he walks less than Pinto’.

The Spanish press too has laid into him after the mercurial Messi was found yawning and looking disinterested at a training session ahead of the Copa del Rey final.

And as Madrid daily Marca put up the headline “Messi goes MIA again” after the final, Buenos Aires-based newspaper Clarin wrote: “Lets hope he’s saving himself”.

Argentina is hoping but at least history is on their side.

The last time the Spanish press and Barca supporters accused someone of saving himself for the World Cup, he ended up a winner.

He was Rivaldo in 2002 – a year in which Barca ended without a trophy.

Note: This is the eighth segment of a 14-part Dawn 2014 FIFA World Cup special, which includes exclusive interviews with current and former players, features and analyses ahead of the football extravaganza in Brazil.