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Speaking ahead of Barcelona’s crucial trip to Atlético de Madrid tomorrow night, coach Ronald Koeman spoke about the need to show Lionel Messi “much more” respect.
Messi was surprised by a herd of journalists after his return from Argentina to Barcelona after the international break, and responded to a provocative question about his teammate Antoine Griezmann by answering “I’m tired of always being the problem of everything at this club. “
Messi, despite evidently slowing down as he turns 30, recorded 31 goals and 27 assists last season, out of 44 appearances. The previous season he scored 51 goals and contributed 20 assists in 50 games.
“You have to respect people like Leo a lot more,” Koeman said in his pre-game press conference. “It is disrespectful to ask him about Antoine and he may have intended to create controversy. I have not seen any problem between the two. “
Koeman was also pressured about Messi’s future, with Pep Guardiola’s new two-year contract at Manchester City increasing speculation that the Argentine could be on his way to joining his former Premier League manager sooner rather than later.
“No, I don’t see Messi outside the club,” he said. “I am not going to answer any more questions about these things. In my opinion, [Messi]The future must go through Barça. No one can say what will happen in the future. “
Koeman also ruled on the timing of the match against Atleti given that Barcelona are also playing the Champions League in the middle of the week.
“Playing the games at 9 pm doesn’t help us,” he said. “I understand that Atlético de Madrid and Barça play at this time because it is an important game, but always playing at 9 pm for the teams that play every three days is a problem, you get home very late.
“Tomorrow is an important game and we have to get a good result. Atlético de Madrid is a competitive team that fights for titles every season and we have to be good enough to win ”.
Philippe Coutinho will return for the clash, but four other players will miss it. Ronald Araujo, Sergio Busquets, Ansu Fati and Samuel Umtiti are injured. Of the quartet, Busquets and Fati will be particularly strange, both have been regulars under Koeman so far in his reign.
Miralem Pjanic is expected to join the squad for Busquets alongside Frenkie de Jong at double pivot, while Coutinho could take Fati’s place on the wing.
Currently, Barcelona is eighth in the league standings, six points behind Atleti in third place and nine points behind Liga leader Real Sociedad. The Catalans are five points behind the last Huesca.
Atleti has its own problems. Luis Suárez and Lucas Torreira tested positive for COVID-19 while off international duty with Uruguay and are expected to miss out on what will be a very interesting clash of the titans.
Featured image courtesy of the Barca Center.
