Pep Guardiola has been lauded from all parts of the globe during his short stint as manager of FC Barcelona, and why shouldn't he be considering his team's success?
Well, after watching Barcelona play the last week or so with out star man Lionel Messi, it has become quite clear that this is not the same Barcelona team that wowed to six trophies in 2009 and to the La Liga title last year.
I do not wish to say that Barcelona won't win the league title, or even the Champions League, but it is obvious that Barcelona's success this season is completely dependent on Messi.
In the past, Barcelona always had the guns to overcome the absence of the great Rosario-born No. 10, but now there does not appear to be the same amount of horses in the stable, which is why we saw Messi rushed back from an injury to make a 30-minute cameo in last night's Champions League tie against Rubin Kazan.
Gone is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the tall Swede who was slated for his play down the stretch for Barcelona last year, but how quickly people have forgotten that it was Ibra who carried the team when Messi went through his injury woes last year.
La Pulga had suffered a knock after yet another violent tackle, and was less then 100 percent fit to face Real Madrid, but he played anyway and was not the same Messi we know and love.
Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o has been scoring for fun for Inter this season.
Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images On came Ibra who smashed home the winner with a brilliant volley that left Iker Casillas wondering what hit him.
Before Ibra, there was Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry, both whom registered over 25 goals during the 2008-09 season.
Eto'o was especially a legend at Barcelona, having scored in two Champions League Finals and consistently banging in over 30 goals a season.
Guardiola ran off the Cameroon hitman and sent him to Inter for Ibrahimovic and 40 million Euros.
All Eto'o did in one season in Italy was win three more trophies, and although he was employed as a left-sided winger in Jose Mourinho's ultra-defensive system, he is now back amongst the goals under Rafa Benitez who has used him in his favored position up front.
Now Ibra is gone, in one of the worst business moves all time, and so is Henry who left to semiretirement in the MLS.
All that is left other than Messi, as far as offensive firepower, are Pedro and Bojan.
Pedro has won everything there is to win at a young age, including a World Cup, but he is far from a world-class player and has largely been the beneficiary of playing with some of the best players of his generation.
Bojan is still just a youngster, but has yet to come through the way everyone believed he would.
David Villa had a great World Cup, but was wasted as a lone striker during the later rounds.
Jasper Juinen/Getty Images So now, we must ask: Could Barcelona win the league without Messi for a long period of time?
Perhaps, but judging from their performances without him, it would be difficult.
Spain won the World Cup without a cutting edge, scoring just eight goals in seven games, the lowest goal output for a World Cup champion in history. The team looked just like Barcelona does without Messi.
They had to defend by possessing the ball, and although they still played some good football at times, it was hardly mouth-dropping stuff.
Barcelona would have to adopt a similar style without Messi and the high-profile striking departures the club has seen as of late.
Perhaps even more worrying, is what happens if Messi is playing, but is marked out of the game?
David Villa can score the goals, but will he do it as a classic No. 9 for a big club? He struggled at the World Cup up front alone without Fernando Torres, and was largely ineffective in the semifinal and final of the tournament, and one can only assume he would be equally over-matched by massive centerbacks at the club level.
The world has now seen Barcelona without Messi. They liked what they saw.
John Tilghman is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, the open source sports network.
