How Luis Enrique reignited Barcelona's treble dream

So then Barcelona, here’s something else that has never been done before – three trebles in eight years. In the aftermath of the club’s greatest ever European night at the Camp Nou on Wednesday that possibility will have slowly come into focus; three weeks ago it was unthinkable.

There’s a feel-good factor snowballing at the home of the current La Liga champions. Ivan Rakitic signed his new contract on Friday that sees him extend his stay at Barca until 2021. His buy-out clause goes up to €125m in the process.

Leo Messi might not be far behind. Neymar said after the midweek miracle: “He will definitely stay”. He certainly didn’t look like a man weighing up leaving the club when he hung from the steel barrier behind the goal and thumped the Barca badge on his chest as the masses swarmed forward to celebrate with him following Sergi Roberto's goal. The photographer fortunate enough to capture the image says it's already been seen by 55 million people.

Neymar, meanwhile, is fresh from his greatest ever game in a Barcelona shirt and looks ready for the challenge of the rest of the season. The team will need him, especially in the Copa del Rey final against Alaves, when Luis Suarez will be out suspended.

And Luis Enrique looks like a man who put the world on pause while he had a power nap. Suddenly he's fresher and sharper than all his rivals. He is ready to give the last three months of his tenure as Barcelona coach absolutely everything. Since March 1, the day he announced he was quitting at the end of the season, Barcelona have scored 17 goals in three games.

His tactical tinkering should take plenty of the credit for the turnaround in the club's season too. They were getting over-powered down their right-hand side with Messi playing wide right and Sergio Roberto exposed and out of position at right-back. The introduction of Rafinha to the front three has brought energy to the team and freed Messi up to play between the lines just off Suarez.

There is no proper right-back at the club so Barca are playing three centre-backs. Suddenly they look strong at the back, they have numbers in midfield, and they are joined-up in attack.

Meanwhile, back on the other side of the tracks, Zinedine Zidane is in tactics turmoil. His heart asks: ‘how can I leave Isco, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata out in every single big game just because the unwritten rule is that Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo must always start?’ His head says: ‘this is Real Madrid, do as you’re told’.

Benzema is the president’s favourite son and Real Madrid won two Champions Leagues with their so-called BBC forward line of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano. But sides get found out and even the best must innovate.

Morata has a better goals-per-minutes ratio than any striker in Spain, with one every 104 minutes. He should be playing more. And Asensio, Isco, James and Vazquez are all in good form, begging the question: why Madrid can't find room for four midfielders instead of three?

There is still time for the wind to change again, for all that it's blowing at Barca's back right now. Neymar was 40 minutes late for training on Thursday after partying with Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Samuel Umtiti the night before.

He scored two and set up one of the three goals in seven minutes that kept Barcelona in the Champions League so Luis Enrique will have been happy to allow him to do as he pleases. But Barcelona need to come down from their comeback high and sidestep the banana skin that is Deportivo away on Sunday – a team yet to lose in three games under new coach Pepe Mel.

But if they safely negotiate that game then they will have seven days to their collect their thoughts ahead of a home league game against Sevilla – and those thoughts will inevitably include the idea of a treble, achieved in 2009 and 2015, but so unthinkable at about 10.30pm local time on Wednesday.