FC Barcelona head coach, Quique Setien believes club captain, Lionel Messi needs a rest as Barcelona chase the LaLiga title. Setien made the declaration on Saturday (July 11) after Barcelona kept the pressure on Real Madrid with a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid at the Estadio Jose Zorilla.
Messi provided the assist as Arturo Vidal’s 15th-minute goal meant Barca moved back within a point of rivals and LaLiga leaders Madrid, who have a game in hand.
The superstar attacker played 90 minutes as Barca’s busy schedule continued and Setien said afterwards that Messi needed a rest.
“He probably will get a rest, yes,” the Barcelona coach told a news conference.
“I’ve mentioned it to him previously and perhaps today if we’d got a couple more goals, as I think we deserved, he probably would have come off to get a little bit of a rest.”
Luis Suarez, meanwhile played 45 minutes, after France international Antoine Griezmann went off injured. Setien feels Barca were tired after a third game in the space of a week.
“I think it’s mostly tired legs. It’s less than 72 hours since we played our last game,” he said.
“It was very hot today and the pitch felt a lot bigger towards the end of the match.
“You could see that a lot of players were not looking fresh late on in the game and they probably lacked that touch of intensity.
“We’ve played many games and it’s very draining and we have quite a few players who’ve played a lot of minutes so we can’t blame our football, I blame mostly our tired legs for today’s game.
“Sometimes that can affect your decision making, but this is normal for the current situation we’re in,” he concluded.
