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Barcelona are heading into a tough series of games without their talisman in top form. Lionel Messi was far from his best during the loss to Getafe on Saturday, but more difficult tests remain.
On Tuesday, Ronald Koeman’s team plays its first Champions League game since the 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of last season’s competition, a result that, of course, led to Messi to deliver a transfer request.
The Catalans host the Hungarian Ferencvaros at the Camp Nou just four days before the first Clásico of the campaign. Real Madrid will also visit Barcelona’s home for the LaLiga Santander clash.
Koeman is almost certainly expecting a reaction from Los Blancos after they were defeated by Cádiz on Saturday morning.
The following Wednesday, the Blaugrana return to play the Champions League, but Juventus will surely be a much tougher test than Ferencvaros in Turin. Cristiano Ronaldo’s participation in that match is still on the air after his positive test for coronavirus.
Messi will want to be at his best in these games, but he is going through one of the worst scoring moments of his career right now. Since the lockdown was interrupted last season, the Argentine has scored seven goals in 19 appearances for his club.
This season, Messi has only scored once in LaLiga Santander and that was four games ago in the opening match against Villarreal by converting a penalty. He made the net for Argentina during the international break in October, but that also came from the penalty spot against Ecuador.
Another worrying statistic is the number of times Messi has given away the ball this season. He has lost possession a total of 68 times in Barcelona’s first four league games: 16 against Villarreal, 19 against Celta de Vigo, 16 against Sevilla and 17 against Getafe.
Nothing has really been the same for the 33-year-old since that transfer request at the end of August and the internal conflict with Barcelona that ended his stay at the club.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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