Javier Mascherano says Barcelona should "take advantage" of Lionel Messi's outstanding form and added: "He will help us know how to suffer and come through any difficult moments we are in."
Barca are currently La Liga's in-form side, with nine wins from their last nine games in all competitions, and have cut Real Madrid's lead in the Primera Division to just one point.
The coming weeks feature a number of huge games for Luis Enrique's side, including the two-legged Copa del Rey semifinal against Villarreal, the Champions League last-16 clashes with Manchester City, and the clasico against Los Blancos at the Camp Nou on Sunday March 22.
Mascherano said while being awarded the "Leadership Ability Award" at Mundo Deportivo's Gran Gala on Monday evening that Messi's display had been key to Sunday night's 5-2 win at Athletic Bilbao, and the team should continue to follow their "footballing leader" over the remainder of the campaign.
'@Mascherano: "Debemos aprovechar el momento de Messi" http://t.co/sEq0UvPIM2 pic.twitter.com/SA7qA42lRR
- Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) February 9, 2015
"The great game we played last night had a lot to do with how Messi played," Mascherano said. "When Leo shines the team is always stronger because he is a player who gives you so many things. We must take advantage of the form he is in, and we must accompany him as the football leader he is. He will help us know how to suffer and come through any difficult moments we are in."
Just over a month ago, the mood was less buoyant around the Camp Nou, with Messi's future at the club in serious doubt after a training-ground row with Luis Enrique, and the side's limp showing in losing 1-0 at Real Sociedad.
The team has bounced back with nine wins from nine games since, scoring 32 goals and conceding just seven, and Mascherano claimed the media "noise" around that time had brought the squad closer together.
"I believe we have found consistency which maybe comes from having come through that moment during the season -- a game in which the result, and level of play, was not the best," he said. "But there has always been commitment put in. I do not see big changes -- just the fact that all the noise after Anoeta made us maybe stronger as a group.
"But that does not mean the way of working has changed. We also had a very good start to the season. Then there were some missteps that hit us, but now we have found the path again on which we started, and we will finish the season in the best way."
Meanwhile, former Barcelona defender Eric Abidal has said that Luis Enrique's "in-house knowledge" is helping him do a better job than predecessor Gerardo "Tata" Martino.
Luis Enrique had played for Barca between 1996 and 2004 and later spent time in charge of the club's B team, and Abidal told "Al Primer Toque" that his background had helped him to work from the foundations laid during the Pep Guardiola era.
"Luis Enrique is getting more out of the team as he knows the place," Abidal said. "It is difficult to bring in ideas -- there are very big players but to make a good sauce with all these ingredients is not easy for a coach. That is why it did not go well for Tata Martino. Barca have always tried to play good football. Madrid use more direct tactics, the counter-attack. This Barca of 2015 is very similar to Pep's side. The players know what was good from Guardiola, and what is good in this team."
Abidal, who has been linked with a return to the Camp Nou in a backroom role following his recent retirement as a player, suggested he would wait until the summer's presidential elections had taken place before making any decision.
"My decision has nothing to do with this board," he said. "I have no problems with [current president Josep Maria] Bartomeu, nor with [ex-president Sandro] Rosell, but it's better to have everything on the table and look for solutions knowing that my priority at the moment is my foundation. I have just hung up my boots, and will go bit by bit. I have lost a lot of time with my family. We need time to know exactly what we will do."