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Barcelona won 1-0 against Levante in the weekend and wrapped up LaLiga as their nearest competitors Atletico Madrid cannot mathematically win the league anymore. This season Barcelona made several promising young talents play along with some experience in the presence of Arturo Vidal. Now Barcelona have comfortably won the league and have a chance to go out all guns blazing in the semi-finals of the Champions League against Liverpool, their main focus this season.
The whole team has been very influential in the league success but some of the players have stood out ahead of their teammates and have been indispensable to this Barcelona side. Let us take a look at some of the superstars who have been a mainstay during Barcelona's league triumph.
#5 Marc-Andre ter Stegen
The German international has become an ever present figure for the Blaugrana over the past 2 seasons and has been making his mark in becoming one of Barcelona's most important players.
He hasn't had the number of clean sheets he had last season because of the slight change in tactics where Barca play a high line and hence is vulnerable to counter-attacks. But he is one of the reasons why they are the best defensive side in the Champions League compared to the teams which still remain.
Having had 16 clean sheets in the league and 5 clean sheets in the Champions League, Ter Stegen has shown that on his day, he is impenetrable, which he proved in the Round of 16 fixture vs Lyon.
Although he has been suspect at times in the league, making mistakes in the games against Villarreal, it was just a few blips which any keeper would've made because they are human after all.
#4 Luis Suarez
Luis Suarez, probably the best player over the past 10 years apart from Messi and Ronaldo, has been slowing down considerably over the past 2 seasons. But he still has been putting up very good numbers despite being woefully out of form for Valverde's men and he only shows what he can do when he is on song.
Suarez has been missing many chances laid on to him by his teammates but he has come clutch when it matters the most like when he scored the sensational goal against Atletico in the dying stages of the match to break the deadlock and to comfortably end their title chances.
Having scored 21 and assisted a further 6, Suarez is comfortably ahead of any other Barca player in terms of goals, only behind Lionel Messi. Although he may not have the impact one might expect from him, he still is very much an important player in this Barcelona team.
#3 Clement Lenglet
Clement Lenglet was signed in the summer from Sevilla for €35 million. Many expected him to play a support to Samuel Umtiti who was coming after a wonderful World Cup for France and also hoped the latter would lead the defensive line this season.
When Umtiti got injured, Lenglet came into the squad to replace the fellow Frenchman and at first he struggled, getting sent off in a league match which Barcelona drew against Girona. That made fans wonder how they were going to cope without Umtiti. But ever since then, he has become a much more reliable defender for the Blaugrana alongside Gerard Pique and helped Barcelona on many occasions from conceding a goal.
If he continues like this, he may also replace Umtiti to become the starting centre-back next season. It is safe to say Lenglet has been one of Barcelona's best players this season.
#2 Gerard Pique
Gerard Pique started the season in a rather poor fashion as he wasn't at his best and people had doubts over his ability to lead Barcelona this season. But ever since then, he has become better day by day and has proved to be one of the best in the world this season, only behind a certain Dutchman in Virgil van Dijk.
This season, Pique has only missed 2 league matches and has completed the whole 90 minutes in every game he has played. Although there are a few faults in his game, he has been phenomenal and showed no signs of slowing down so far.
With rumours of De Ligt signing for Barcelona, one can only wonder how Barcelona will accommodate 4 excellent central defenders in their line up. Now it will be time to see if he can replicate his form against an elite side in Liverpool.
#1 Lionel Messi
After being named the Barcelona captain following the departure of a certain Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi took it upon himself to bring the Champions League back to Camp Nou as he said in his presentation as the captain. So far he has been head and shoulders above every other player in both Barcelona and in Europe.
He has been involved in 34 goals and 13 assists in 32 appearances in LaLiga and also been very lively in the Champions League. With Barcelona having won the league, all eyes will now be on the main trophy, the Champions League.
With a daunting task ahead of him in the semi-finals against Liverpool, we can witness the best attacking player this season going head to head against the best defender this season in Van Dijk.
Will this finally be Barcelona's year? One can only wait and see.
