MADRID: A year that equals the best in Barcelona's history, with La Liga in the bag and Champions League and Copa del Rey finals to come, couldn't have started more inauspiciously.
The Catalans opened 2015 with a 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad on the field and descended into full blown institutional crisis off it.
Lionel Messi and Neymar had been left on the bench in San Sebastian after returning back from their Christmas holidays later than the rest of their teammates, a decision which didn't rest well with the former as he skipped an open training session with the club's fans the next day.
On the same day, sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked and his assistant and club legend Carles Puyol walked.
The following week Luis Enrique's job was on the line as champions Atletico Madrid visited the Camp Nou, but rather than leave their coach out to dry, Barca produced their best performance of the season and set in motion a run of 29 wins in 32 games to propel them to glory on all fronts.
"From the game against Real Sociedad, everything changed," Messi admitted weeks later.
"The attitude, the desire of the team to go out on the field in a different way and to press."
The biggest change came from Messi himself, though. A week after the Sociedad game, the four-time World Player of the Year had to watch Cristiano Ronaldo pick up his third Ballon d'Or and pronounce he was coming for Messi's record.
Yet, in the five months which have followed it, Messi has again taken the lead in the rivalry between the two and recovered the level that made him the world's best between 2009 and 2012.
"I see him strong, quick, competitive. He has returned to being the player I had the privilege to coach," said the most successful coach in Barca's history, Pep Guardiola, after watching a Messi masterclass eliminate his Bayern Munich side in the Champions League last week.
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