Lionel Messi felt isolated and missed his best friend Luis Suarez when he wanted to leave Barcelona, a former teammate says

• Lionel Messi felt isolated and missed Luis Suarez when he wanted to leave Barcelona.
• That's according to Messi's former Barca teammate Andrea Orlandi.
• Orlandi also told Insider that the Argentine "wasn't convinced" by his teammates on the pitch.

Lionel Messi felt isolated and missed his "best friend" Luis Suarez when he wanted to leave FC Barcelona last year.

That's according to his former teammate Andrea Orlandi, who says the Argentine's unhappiness played a large part in Barcelona missing out on the La Liga title this season.

Messi requested to leave the Camp Nou in August following the club's humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, however ultimately backed down amid a dispute over his contract.

The next month, however, Barcelona then sold Suarez, who had won 13 major trophies alongside Messi, to Atletico Madrid - prompting Messi to publicly criticize Barca on social media.

Amid the fallout, Barcelona endured a slow start to the season, losing four of its first 10 La Liga games, with Messi on the score sheet just four times.

"You could see from his body language that when he was playing that he wasn't really convinced what [the team] were doing," Orlandi, who played for Barcelona between 2005 and 2007 and is now a pundit for La Liga TV, told Insider of Messi.

"The biggest thing that he missed was his best friend Luis Suarez walking into the dressing room, would you believe it or not. And then on the pitch, he didn't really have the company he deserved."

Orlandi added that once Messi "felt part of the group" again, as well as after manager Ronald Koeman had changed the team's formation, things began to change.

"Once [Messi] just forgot about it and got going, you could see that Barcelona improved," he said. "The system helped as well. It helped Sergio Busquets to be more positive, pressing, pushing forward, pushing on, and the three centre backs worked.

"It helped Pedri as well, you know, a young midfielder to grow into the side. The same with having Sergino Dest play as a right wing back. The system made the team better, more balanced."

After its slow start, Barcelona then went undefeated in La Liga in six months between December and April, winning 17 of its 20 matches to put itself firmly in the title race, while it also won the Copa Del Rey.

During that period, Messi scored 21 goals.

Three defeats and two draws in the last eight La Liga games for Ronald Koeman's side, however means it can now finish no higher than third, with Suarez's Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid set to battle it out for the title on the final day.

Atletico needs to beat Real Valladolid on Saturday to be crowned champion. If it fails to win, a victory for Real Madrid over Villarreal on the same day will see it crowned champion instead.

Orlandi says despite Barcelona being on course for its worst finish since 2007/08, there are still plenty of positives to be taken from the campaign.

"They've had some great games, probably they've played the best football in the competition, but they haven't been able to sustain it for a long time," said Orlandi. "I think they ran out of gas."

"They are still growing, they are still learning, it was a transition season for them," he added. "They've won the Copa Del Rey, they could have won the Super Cup as well, and they've been close to winning the title. But unfortunately, this is Barca, and obviously, it's not good enough.

"But the quality they've offered in some of the games, I remember the game away at Real Sociedad, a great team, and they won 6-1 away from home, and the football they played was just champagne football.

"I think there is still a lot in the team to actually grow, probably around Leo Messi, which is what [Joan] Laporta wants to do.

"There is future in this team. I think about Pedri, De Jong, Ilaix made his debut and was very impressive, Dest is young, Arujo at the back, so there are some great players to look forward to in the coming seasons.

"People in Barcelona are a bit negative, Barcelona fans, but there are lots of positives to take from this season."