While Messi is credited for his record-breaking goals and glittering trophies at Barcelona, a factor which is quite underrated is how he weathered the storm when the club was in chaos. Despite board feuds, managerial changes, and financial constraints, Messi managed to keep the club’s reputation in safe hands.
After Guardiola Era
When Pep Guardiola left Barcelona in 2012, after years of success winning La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup, and the Club World Cup, the first signs of instability became visible. Tito Vilanova took over the charge and kept the team in competitive form, but behind the scenes, his battle with cancer was a long emotional shadow over the dressing room. Despite this, Messi produced a fantastic season scoring 60+ goals and keeping Barça at the top of La Liga. The team structure started to wobble, but Messi’s performance never dipped.
Carrying the Team
In 2013-14, Tata Martino was appointed as Barcelona’s manager. Under his tenure, Barcelona suffered from tactical inconsistency and lacked their spark. Messi’s numbers dipped during this period and critics questioned whether Messi had passed his peak. Behind the scenes, something was brewing. Messi was adapting to the sudden managerial changes and evolving. Messi improved his role as a playmaker, increased his defensive contributions, and centred himself around the whole squad. Despite Barcelona ending the season trophy-less, Messi remained the most decisive player reaching 41 goals in all competitions and constantly being pivotal in tight matches.
Luis Enrique Era
The arrival of Enrique brought early tensions between the coach and Messi. Rumours of internal problems made headlines with many expecting Barcelona to suffer another trophy less season. Both Messi and Enrique responded on the pitch. In 2014-15, Barcelona won the treble alongside Neymar and Suarez (MSN), reinventing Messi as both scorer and creator. Messi’s mental resilience of transforming conflict into team success showed his maturity thinking about the club. After this season, Xavi retired and Iniesta’s time was near. Many expected Messi to fumble in the following seasons without his companions.
Messi’s Leadership
By 2017, Neymar had left Barcelona, and no one knew what was cooking behind the scenes. Messi stood up and helped the Barcelona team. Barcelona’s board faced criticism for poor transfers and financial missteps. Messi took a huge pay cut to stay at Barcelona and revive the mess they were in. In the 2018–19 season, he scored 51 goals, almost single-handedly carrying the team to a La Liga title and a Champions League semi-final. This was a period of Messi’s silent dominance, and no one noticed.
2020 Crisis and a Fight for Dignity
After the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich and years of internal mismanagement, Messi submitted a buro fax requesting to leave, Messi didn’t want a transfer because of the performance and losses, the reason was the board mismanagement. Despite being forced to stay, Messi delivered again in 2020–21 with 38 goals, countless assists, and a Copa del Rey title. He played not for the board, but for the crest.
Messi’s legacy is not only about goals and trophies, it was about how he survived in this system protecting the club’s repute time and again.
English 
Spanish 
German 
Czech