How important is speed in football?

Some will say it’s crucial. Attackers need it to help beat defenders while defenders need it to prevent attackers getting past them.

But many will argue that it’s an attribute that isn’t a necessity in the professional game.

As long as you’ve got football ability and have a good understanding of the game, you don’t need speed to succeed in the sport.

Some clubs will no doubt consider pace more important than others.

It all depends on their tactics. For example, if a manager wants to create a counter-attacking side then pace on the break is imperative.

But if a manager wants his side to play direct football, he’s more likely to look towards strong, tall players with pace not really too important.

For Barcelona, though, speed is everything.

With them playing teams that hope to defend for the 90 minutes, they need to be quick both on and off the ball in an attempt to break down the opposition.

And Marca have now revealed exactly how quick Barcelona are.

They’ve released a report detailing the top speed that all of their 19 outfield players have reached this season - and there’s a few surprises.

You won’t be too surprised to see that Neymar is top, though, having reached 34.83km/h against Sporting Gijon last month.

But who is second? Lionel Messi? Luis Suarez?

Not quite.

In fact, nowhere near because Messi and Suarez find themselves well down the list.

Barcelona's speed list

Here is the full list:

Neymar: 34.83 (km/h)
Jeremy Mathieu: 34.25
Aleix Vidal: 33.8
Javier Mascherano: 33.71
Jordi Alba: 33.67
Sergio Busquets: 33.64
Gerard Pique: 33.52
Sergi Roberto: 33.51
Paco Alcacer: 33.4
Samuel Umtiti: 33.01
Luis Suarez: 32.86
Andre Gomes: 32.73
Leo Messi: 32.27
Lucas Digne: 32.21
Denis Suarez: 32.18
Arda Turan: 31.87
Rafinha: 31.76
Andres Iniesta: 31.62
Ivan Rakitic: 30.66

That’s right, Messi is only the 13th fastest player at the Camp Nou. Incredible.

Having said that, the Argentine doesn’t exactly need pace to beat defenders. The 29-year-old is one of the best dribblers in world football and can still beat his opponents with relative ease.

As for Suarez, he’s established himself as one of the best strikers in world football but it seems he isn’t quit as quick as everyone thought.

Who needs pace, ey?