Barcelona fans rank best first-team players, Lionel Messi second 

Barcelona fans have ranked Marc-Andre ter Stegen as their best player ahead of talisman Lionel Messi in a poll conducted by Spanish daily Marca. The site allowed fans to upvote and downvote players in comparison to their peers, after their loss to Osasuna in the penultimate game of the campaign.

Here is the full list of rankings (rankings adjusted to the time of writing) -

Samuel Umtiti - Rank 22 Ousmane Dembele - Rank 21, Junior Firpo - Rank 20, Neto - Rank 19, Antoine Griezmann - Rank 18, Martin Braithwaite - Rank 17, Ivan Rakitic - Rank 16, Jordi Alba - Rank 15, Arthur Melo - Rank 14, Luis Suarez - Rank 13, Sergio Busquets - Rank 12, Gerard Pique - Rank 11, Sergio Araujo - Rank 10, Sergi Roberto - Rank 9, Arturo Vidal - Rank 8, Nelson Semedo - Rank 7, Frenkie de Jong - Rank 6, Clement Lenglet - Rank 5, Ansu Fati - Rank 4, Riqui Puig - Rank 3, Lionel Messi - Rank 2, Marc-Andre ter Stegen - Rank 1.

We must not forget the goalkeepers that have stood out in the last 2 months, with Thibaut Courtois and Marc-André ter Stegen leading the clean sheets category. 🧼Looking at the most active goalkeepers, Freiburg's Alexander Schwolow has been the busiest since the restart! 🧤 pic.twitter.com/8ydnWQ6Uhr

— SofaScore (@SofaScoreINT) July 15, 2020

Barcelona season has so far been one of disappointment

Barcelona had a stop-start season in the La Liga, as they finished second behind champions Real Madrid with the final game of the season still to be played.

The Blaugrana were at the top of the table before the restart, but failed to capitalise on their lead as they drew, and surrendered their title as they lost to a 10-man Osasuna.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen has had yet another impressive season for FC Barcelona in the La Liga

Former manager Ernesto Valverde was sacked in January even though his side sat at the top of the La Liga season, and new manager Quique Setién has so far failed to transition his side to his preferred style of football.

The Catalan giants await Napoli in the Champions League, as they seek to avoid a season without silverware for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi says "things have to change" at the club as they lost their La Liga title on the night their 30-game unbeaten home run in the league came to an end.Even a win would not have been enough for Barca, as Real Madrid beat Villarreal 2-1 to win the title pic.twitter.com/hDUv6XOLNc

— ONTV NIGERIA (@ONTV_NIGERIA) July 17, 2020

Marc-Andre ter Stegen's Number 1 rank might raise a few eyebrows, but the German has comfortably been one of their most consistent performers behind a leaky defence.

Considered by many as the best goalkeeper in the world currently, the former Borussia Mönchengladbach has continued his great form from last season averaging 2.2 saves in his games in the La Liga.

Lionel Messi, however, remains the torchbearer (among outfield players) of an underperforming Barcelona becoming the first player in the La Liga to score more than 20 goals as well as assist more than 20 in a single League season.

The worrying part for Barcelona's board (and fans) is the Argentine's contract expires in 2021 and ter Stegen's contract expires in 2022.

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Also check out: All-time Messi vs Ronaldo stats