SAN FRANCISCO, November 23, (THEWILL) – La Liga club FC Barcelona released their 19-man squad to take on Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday with a very telling exclusion. There is no Lionel Messi.
Manager Ronald Koeman decided to rest Messi and midfielder Frenkie de Jong for the Group G match in the Ukraine with nonstop tough fixtures ahead of the Blaugrana, saying nothing of those already played.
The Dutch manager believes it is the right time to give them a break. The Catalans are in a good position in their group and do not need to expend too much resources in certain matches. Meanwhile, they need to focus on La Liga after a struggling start has left them in 12th after eight games.
“We’ve got various players out due to injuries and we have decided that we won’t be taking Leo or Frenkie because the situation in the Champions League is something that is quite comfortable with the nine points that we’ve got,” Koeman remarked on the omissions.
“These two players need to rest because they have played a lot of matches and we think this is a good moment to rest them.”
Apart from 45 minutes of a first half game this season, Messi has featured in all of Barca’s matches and was in action for Argentina in their CONMEBOL qualifying fixtures against both Paraguay and Peru during the international break this month.
At the moment, the Camp Nou can ill afford another injury. Centre back Gerard Pique and right back Sergi Roberto joined forward Ansu Fati and centre back Samuel Umtiti in the long-term absentee list.
The Catalan club’s misery at suffering another La Liga defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Saturday was made worse by the injuries suffered to the pair in their 1-0 loss, with both players expected to be out for several months. There are reports that Ousmane Dembele also sustained an injury to his shoulder at the game as well.
A win for Barca on Tuesday will be enough to secure a place in the knock-out stages for them. They already sit eight points ahead of their opponents on the night with three games still to play.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
