Without Messi, who will take Barça's free kicks?

Since Ronaldinho left FC Barcelona in 2008, Messi has taken practically all of the club's free kicks. After learning from the Brazilian maestro, Leo ended up becoming the best free kick specialist on the planet. Messi has scored 58 goals from direct free kicks, which is more than anyone else who is still playing professional football.

50 of these free kicks were scored in Barça colours, spread across the 13 seasons during which he has been the designated dead ball taker. Statistically, 9% of his shots from free kicks end up in the back of the net. Such is his accuracy, no-one has challenged him for the role of free-kick taker, despite sharing a dressing room with talented ball strikers such as Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, David Villa, Luis Suárez and Neymar.

Messi occasionally let his team mates have a go, but he took the majority himself. In total, he struck a total of 560 direct free kicks during his time at the club. With Messi now out the door, it remains to be seen who will fill this position.

While Gerard Piqué has taken a few over the years, so far in pre-season the responsibility was shared between Antoine Griezmann and new arrival Memphis Depay.

Fin al monopolio

The Dutch forward has taken free kicks over the years for Lyon, Manchester United and for the Netherlands national team, but only 3 of his 108 goals (before joining Barça) were from direct free kicks.

Griezmann, meanwhile, has scored 8 free kicks from 108 attempts throughout his career, with all goals coming during his time at Atlético de Madrid. In other words, 7.41% of his free kicks end up beating the goalkeeper, which is a more than respectable record.

In Sunday's 'Gamper' against Juventus, the responsibility was shared between the two players. The right-footed Memphis took them from the left-hand side, while left-footed Griezmann took them from the right. Going forward, other options could be Ousmane Dembélé, Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho, if he ends up staying at the club.