El Clasico: Messi returns but do Barcelona really need him?

The first El Clasico of the season takes place on Saturday as Barcelona visit Real Madrid, with Lionel Messi poised to make his comeback after two months out with a knee injury.

But for the first time in his career Messi could find himself surplus to requirements, with Barcelona fans calling for him to be left on the bench for one of the biggest matches in world football.

The reason is the form of Neymar and Luis Suarez, who have carried Barcelona to the top of the table while Messi has been sidelined.

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"However much everyone keeps saying Messi is irreplaceable Suarez and Neymar have done some job of replacing him," says Sid Lowe in The Guardian. "If they have to extend that to one more game, even this game, so be it.

"Between them, Suarez and Neymar have scored every one of the club's 16 league goals in Messi's absence, eight each. They have 20 of 23 in all competitions, ten each," he adds.

Neymar has gone from being seen as Messi's "butler" to his equal, he says.

The fans have taken note, and Bleacher Report highlights a poll in Spanish newspaper Sport in which the "overwhelming majority" of voters, 79 per cent, said the Argentine should start the game on the bench.

Usually El Clasico is seen as a showdown between Messi and his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo, but this one has a different feel, suggests Alistair Tweedale of the Daily Telegraph. One of the two players will win the Ballon d'Or in January he suggests. But "there is no obvious winner based on their form in the first few months of this season".

Messi managed six goals in ten games before his injury, while Ronaldo has a rather more impressive 13 in 15. But he has failed to score in nine separate matches this term, which is almost unheard of. "It has in some sense been an underwhelming start to the 2015/16 season," he laments.