Barcelona have forgotten Neymar because of the brilliance of Lionel Messi

Neymar’s £198million move to Paris Saint-Germain was a loss but Barca have not looked like missing him yet, largely because of the brilliance of Lionel Messi.

Messi has scored 11 goals in seven La Liga games – his greatest start to a season ahead of facing a favourite opponent in Atletico Madrid on Saturday. So, could a fourth 40-goal season actually follow?

In 2011-12, Messi got 50 league goals. In 2012-13, he got 46. He then scored 43 two seasons later, before coming close with 37 last campaign.

Now, he is averaging 1.6 a game and leading Barcelona in life post-Neymar.

Their game against Atletico at the new Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Saturday night comes less than a week after Messi showed again why he is the man for the big occasion.

Just three days ago, the 30-year-old dragged Argentina to the 2018 World Cup with a hat-trick against Ecuador. Only a win would do, and they were 1-0 down within the first minute, but it finished Messi 3, Ecuador 1.

His hat-trick made him the first player in the history of South American qualifying to score 20 goals. It likewise meant Messi remains the only Argentinian to have scored a completive goal for his country in the last 11 months.

All of Argentina were counting on him and he duly delivered. Now, his attention turns to Atletico, who are already a favourite opponent of his.

In 34 games against Diego Simeone’s side, Messi has 27 goals, with 22 of those coming in La Liga. A brace on Saturday would see them replace Sevilla as the side who Messi has scored the most against in Spain’s top flight.

There’s a good chance that will happen too, given their history. He has scored five in his last six in La Liga against Atletico. In their last meeting, it was an 86th minute winner from Messi that saw Barcelona win away at the Vicente Calderon.

On Saturday night, he will have former Chelsea defender Filipe Luis for company. Luis explained this week how he intends to stop Messi with brutal honesty: ‘I’m always in the butcher role.

‘The only way to stop Messi one-on-one is to foul him. Otherwise, if I’m alone, I’ll only get the ball one in 20 times. I have to use other weapons.

‘I know the best way to stop him. If he feels comfortable, you’re dead. I feel I do pretty well against him when we play, although he always scores against us.

‘Messi is so good that he can win La Liga even with a mediocre team, which is not the case.’

The last nine Ballon d’Ors have been shared between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. With one 30 and the other 32, it’s getting to that time when a new winner could soon crop up.

Wanting to have the spotlight to himself was supposedly one of the reasons why Neymar left. Despite his departure, Messi has made sure they haven’t been left to look short of a superstar in attack.

Luis Figo said this week that Barca’s prestige took a hit when they were forced to sell Neymar to PSG but that the Spanish side knew how to survive.

‘It's impossible that clubs like Barcelona or Madrid only depend on one player,’ Figo said. ‘Of course, he's a big loss, because he's one of the best football players in the world.

‘Let’s see how they deal with that during the season.’

So far, they’re doing just fine.