Can Barcelona Cope Without Neymar?

One by one, Barcelona’s players began to wipe their slates clean. Lionel Messi got booked before the international break against Valencia, ensuring he missed the league game against Granada.

Gerard Pique was expected to follow the same plan. One Spanish radio station even ran a poll asking listeners to guess when he would pick up a yellow card. He didn’t get booked, though, and he didn’t like the poll, taking to Twitter to criticise the “fun” idea. But the next time Pique played in La Liga he did get booked, forcing him to miss Saturday’s loss at Malaga. Ivan Rakitic missed that game, too, after being cautioned against Granada.

That left the only Barca player without a clean slate as Sergi Roberto, although Jordi Alba joined him against Malaga, picking up his fourth booking of the season.

What Barca’s players were doing was ensuring they would be free to play in the Clasico against Real Madrid on April 23. Five bookings equal a ban and a fifth booking of the season in this weekend’s game against Real Sociedad would mean a suspension for the trip to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Neymar had been clean for a while. He was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in March and sat out of the game at Deportivo La Coruna. His participation against Madrid was never in threat.

It still wasn’t in threat when, on Saturday, he was shown a second caution and ultimately sent off as Luis Enrique’s side’s title hopes were hit in Malaga. But as he made his way off the pitch at La Rosaleda, referee Jesus Gil Mazano’s report states the Brazil international “sarcastically applauded” the fourth official.

A one-game ban for the red card, it was immediately speculated, would now become a ban of two, three or even four games thanks to the petty gesture that followed. On Tuesday, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed Barca’s fears: they will be missing Neymar for the next three games.

He won’t play against Real Sociedad, Madrid or Osasuna. The middle one of those three fixtures stands above the others, though.

Luis Enrique has no player like Neymar in his squad. There’s no way he can replace him adequately for a game as big as the one in Madrid. There are options, but they’re not the same.

Arda Turan has been the player most often used in Neymar’s absence this season, and he’s done well, scoring hat tricks in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. He would be the obvious replacement if not for two reasons: firstly, he is out injured, and, secondly, he does not fit the more commonly used 3-4-3 as well as he did the 4-3-3.

Although that formation switch — which occurred after the four-goal mauling at Paris Saint-Germain — has benefited Barca, it makes it even harder to replace Neymar. With no left-back behind him, he’s developed into even more of a one-man machine on the left. His pace and trickery, not just on the counterattack but all the time, are fundamental to Barca being at their best.

Keeping this in mind, Alba, whose status has slipped to a substitute role since the system change, might be the best option. He will never get anywhere near replacing Neymar’s quality and output, but he’s the one player who can cover the ground, up and down, with his speed.

Rafinha is out for the rest of the season, but Denis Suarez did play on the left at Villarreal for a period, and Andres Iniesta was positioned there when Tito Vilanova was in charge at Camp Nou. Both offer control, but you lose that Neymar spark.

According to Opta, Neymar has attempted 382 dribbles this season, 156 more than Real Madrid’s front line combined (Cristiano Ronaldo 94, Gareth Bale 83 and Karim Benzema 49). The dribbles have an end product, too. He has created 10 goals in the league and a staggering eight in seven Champions League games, including that historic Roberto winner against Paris Saint-Germain.

Roberto may well be an option to fill in for Neymar — he’s played everywhere else — and Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer and Messi might also be considered to play on the left. Playing Messi there could allow Iniesta to feature at the tip of the midfield four, with Luis Suarez through the middle and Roberto on the right.

In short, though, it’s clear there’s no obvious replacement for Neymar. Luis Enrique is a hard man to predict, and with Barca’s ability to switch between different systems greatly improved over the past two months, he’s become even harder to second guess.

With no like-for-like substitute, Luis Enrique may be tempted to go with a 4-3-3 against Zinedine Zidane. That formation has not had the best results recently, but it may be the best way to fit in the players at the Barcelona manager’s disposal.

It’s bad news for Barca’s flagging title hopes. Against Depor, they looked slow and lethargic without Neymar, so it doesn’t bode well for the Bernabeu. Especially considering, with one game each to go before the Clasico, they’re three points behind and have played a match more in their quest for a third-straight league title.

Barcelona don’t need to look too far for inspiration, though. Last season, they beat Madrid 4-0 away from home with Messi a spectator on the bench.