The Blaugrana romped to a 4-0 win over Granada at the weekend despite missing the Argentine through a hamstring injury and De Boer has pointed to the consistency of Gerardo Martino’s side as proof that the loss of Messi does not overly weaken the team.

Speaking ahead of Ajax’s Champions League clash with Barca tonight, he said: “We want to be second in the group but, even without Messi, Barcelona have lost very few points in both the league and Champions League. Even without Messi they have a lot of great players,” he said.u00a0

Lionel Messi