SPORTS writers and pundits alike appear to be running out of superlatives for Barcelona’s little genius, Lionel Messi, following the Argentine’s stunning four-goal display to dump Arsenal out of the Champions League this week.

Sublime, magical, great…even messianic are all words that have rolled off the tongues since the diminutive number 10 smashed, chipped, dribbled and powered his way past Arsene Wenger’s side at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.

All of which are entirely accurate. But there are ten other players that, together, command the very same proclamations of greatness.

This Barcelona team, nay the entire squad, are sans pareil in the modern game. While I cannot claim to have borne witness to the great club sides of old - the Real Madrid of the 1950’s, the Ajax of the 70s and Liverpool through the 80s - it is hard to believe that any team could have produced the type of fast, free-flowing, fluid football that this Barca side demonstrated so beautifully against Arsenal.

It was a show worthy of the grandest of all stages, and a sell-out Camp Nou, as well as a packed Emirates Stadium in the first leg of the tie, qualifies as such.

Messi is the ringmaster, of that there is no doubt. He stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries. The reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, he is a shoo-in to retain that title, and all at the tender age of 22.

The mercurial Cristiano Ronaldo and the raging bull that is Wayne Rooney are both widely considered to be his closest rivals for the award, but they are merely playing second fiddle to this mesmerising virtuoso of a footballer (I know, I’m getting carried away with the hyperbole, too).

Messi, of course, bears more than a passing resemblance to another Argentine hero both in appearance and style. Diego Maradona is regarded by many as the finest player ever to grace the game. At this alarming rate of development, however, it is impossible to place a ceiling on his potential.

His success, however, owes almost as much to the tactical genius of his club coach, Pep Guardiola, and the incredible talent that surrounds him, as his natural ability.

Guardiola has pinpointed Messi’s perfect position, starting on the right of a front three, he is given the reign of the pitch, ghosting along that corridor of uncertainty that exists between the two banks of four, the defence and the midfield. His movement makes him exceptionally difficult to track and, with architects like Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez – arguably the best two midfielders in world football – able to find him almost at will, Messi’s job is made that much easier.

If a team opts to concentrate too much on Barca’s number ten, space opens up all over the pitch for the likes of Bokan Krkic, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to exploit.

The argument from some observers of the Arsenal game is that without Messi, Wenger’s side would have progressed. After all, it was he who grabbed all four goals. Nicklas Bendtner’s first-half strike would have been enough, but for that dazzling little genius.

However, it is naive to side with such musings. The beauty of Barcelona is that they find a way. They always do. After all, Messi can hardly claim all the plaudits for the six trophies the club won last year. Granted, his 49 goals over the past two seasons is a staggering return and a key factor, but who is to say he would have scored half as many without the assembly of stars behind him.

It is all too easy to brand Barca a one-man team. The same could be said of Manchester United, and with some validation. Just last week, the defending Premier League champions looked a shadow of the side they are with Rooney in the team, as they were outclassed by Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Barcelona are no one-man band. Messi is the showstopper. He is the star turn. Of that there can be no doubt. But there is a glittering support cast holding him atop that pedestal, and without them, he is a lesser being. They need him, yes. But, undoubtedly, he needs them.