Back in August, everybody thought Barcelona were in crisis.

They were destroyed 5-1 by fierce domestic rivals Real Madrid over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup, fans were up in arms about the signing of Paulinho, and they’d just lost one of their best players - the man expected to eventually succeed Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou.

Neymar wanted to escape from Messi’s shadow and create history at Paris Saint-Germain, who forked out a world-record £200 million to sign the Brazilian superstar.

It was undoubtedly a major blow for Barça. The ‘MSN’ was suddenly no more and replacing Neymar with a player of similar quality would be virtually impossible.

The Catalan giants splashed out £135.5 million on Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund, but the 20-year-old was still developing and not yet at Neymar’s world-class level.

Many people were predicting that Real Madrid would walk away with La Liga at the start of the season.

Their demolition of Ernesto Valverde’s side suggested a huge gulf in class existed between the two Spanish heavyweights.

After 20 league matches, a 16-point gap separated the two teams. However, it’s Barça who currently occupy pole position at the top of La Liga. Real Madrid, meanwhile, have just moved up to third place following today’s 4-1 victory over Valencia, temporarily reducing the deficit to 13 points.

While Zinedine Zidane’s men have undoubtedly underperformed this season, full credit must go to Valverde for the magnificent job he’s currently doing at the Camp Nou.

Barça are still unbeaten in La Liga this season - winning 17 of their 20 matches - scoring 57 goals and conceding just nine in the process.

And all without Neymar.

Messi drops truth bomb about Barcelona without Neymar

Messi has been unbelievably good over recent months and the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has made some surprising comments about life without Neymar in an interview with World Soccer Magazine.

"Without Neymar we are more balanced," Messi is quoted as saying by Marca. "His departure meant a change in our way of playing, we lost a lot of attacking potential, but it helped in the defensive sense.

"We are currently very well armed in the midfield; this makes us stronger in defence."

Very interesting.

Messi firmly believes that Barça are more balanced without the world-class Brazilian.

The two superstars remain friends despite Neymar’s move to the Parc des Princes but these comments are unlikely to go down well with the PSG maestro.

The stats suggest Messi is correct

Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that Barcelona have looked more defensively solid now that Neymar has left the club.

Last season the Catalan club conceded 37 goals in 38 matches - an average of almost one goal every game.

This season they’re currently averaging less than a goal conceded every other game.

It’s therefore pretty hard to disagree with Messi on this one.