When Lionel Messi went down with an injury a few weeks ago and it was made clear that the superstar would be out of commission for some time, there were many questions regarding Barcelona's fate.

Initially the situation looked dire with the team lacking in the attacking prowess it had demonstrated with Messi leading the way. It was not much of a surprise considering Messi's ability to create something out of nothing.

That problem has seemingly been put to rest for now as one of Barcelona's other two main men has made himself indispensable, proving that Barcelona's plan to give Messi support up front was not misplaced.

When he arrived two years ago, Neymar had a terrific start to the season scoring what proved to be the decisive goal in the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid. He would score his first La Liga goal six games into the season and a big goal in the first Clasico he played in.

He had five goals in La Liga through 2013 and was looking solid through and through.

But then injury struck and Neymar's form from there on out was erratic at best. His form dipped tremendously and Barcelona went trophiless by the end of the year.

In Madrid, Gareth Bale was winning plaudits and looked like a better buy than the Brazilian.

He had a terrific World Cup that was also cut short, but Neymar would return with a vengeance in 2014-15, scoring 40 goals in all competitions and leading Barcelona to three trebles alongside Messi and Luis Suarez.

Fast forward to Saturday and it was all Neymar as he put in four goals for an underwhelming Barcelona. The team was disjointed but Neymar still found ways to create two penalties and score another two goals.

At this point in time, Neymar is entering his prime, looking every bit the creative scorer that Barcelona knew it was getting.

He leads the Pichichi race with eight goals and one assist in seven matches; not even Cristiano Ronaldo is keeping pace with the Brazilian. His 3.3 key passes per game are better than his previous per game averages with Barcelona. He is averaging 4.3 dribbles per game, over one more than he did in La Liga last season. He is averaging more passes per game and far more crosses per game than ever before (he has 1.6 per game this year compared to just 0.1 per game last season). He has 2.4 long balls per game compared to 1.1 a year ago. His 5.4 shots per game are a huge upgrade from the 2.9 from a year ago; obviously being the main man affects these stats, but it goes to show just how potent Neymar has been in Messi's absence. He is actually averaging fewer poor first touches than he was a year ago.

In essence, Neymar is playing at a level higher than he has played with Barcelona. He scored 22 goals in La Liga last year and is currently on pace for 43; he is unlikely to continue that pace for the remainder of the season (he did have a big four goal game to boost those totals afterall), but looks to be in the kind of form where scoring 25-30 is not out of the realm of possibility.