Luis Suárez recently shared how a moment of quick thinking—and typical Lionel Messi humor—led to the birth of one of football’s deadliest trios: MSN.
The setting was a Champions League clash against Ajax. Barça were still trying to fine-tune their attacking system under Luis Enrique. At the time, Messi was still being used in his familiar false nine role. Suárez and Neymar were deployed out wide, a setup that, on paper, should’ve worked. But something didn’t click.
That’s when Messi made a spontaneous call on the pitch.
Suárez recalled during a chat with Clank!:
“Luis Enrique wanted Messi to play as a false nine because he was used to that position, and Neymar and I were on the flanks, but he saw that it didn’t work. Messi told me, ‘Oh fat man, stay in the nine position, and I’ll open the pitch for you on the right side.’ And that’s the start of the MSN.”
And just like that, the blueprint for magic was drawn—right there in the middle of a Champions League match.
What followed was history in motion.
Messi shifted to the right wing, Neymar took charge on the left, and Suárez found his rhythm through the middle. Their connection was instant and terrifyingly effective.
They didn’t just play alongside each other—they read one another’s minds. Movement, positioning, vision—everything was in sync.
By the end of that 2014–15 season, the MSN trio had scored an astonishing 122 goals across all competitions. More than just numbers, their flair and chemistry made football look like art.
The trio helped Barça secure the treble—La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League—in one of the club’s most dominant campaigns.
For fans, it was a golden era. For opponents, a nightmare.
And to think, it all began with a light-hearted quip from Messi to Suárez on a Champions League night—a moment that rewrote modern attacking football.
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