Lionel Messi picked up a groin injury against Uruguay in World Cup Qualifying and Barcelona shouldn’t risk further harm.
Lionel Messi is Barcelona’s most prized possession and any harm to him will be devastation to Barca’s success. The Argentine picked up a groin injury against Uruguay after scoring the only goal of the match in a 1-0 victory. He’s already set to miss the next qualifier against Venezuela this evening with that injury too. After these qualifiers, its back to Barcelona for more La Liga action and the start of the Champion’s League.
Barcelona should rest Lionel Messi for their next La Liga match so they won’t risk any further harm to his injury. Barca’s next match comes against Alavés this weekend at the Camp Nou. Alavés is one of the three newly promoted teams from Spain’s Second Division along with Leganes and Osasuna. Resting Messi against a newly promoted La Liga side would be a risk that Luis Enrique is willing to take.
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Barcelona has 6 matches in an 18 days stretch from September 10th to September 28th including Champions League action in that window. This stretch starts with the match against Alavés and they’ve proven to be no pushover. While its easy to look at Alavés as an easy 3 points, they stole a point from Atletico Madrid in their last match. The Catalans must be ready to do well with or without their star player.
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Luis Enrique will likely have to make a few more lineup changes for this weekends La Liga match. While Messi could be out, the best news for Barcelona is that Neymar is returning to the club after a fantastic summer with the Brazil. The newly minted Olympic Gold Medalist scored the winning penalty against Germany in the Olympic final. Now, Neymar will have to be very sharp since Messi will likely not be in the lineup this weekend. Overall, despite still being the favorite in this upcoming match, Barca must still work hard to earn the 3 points that are up for grabs.
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