Barcelona playing with fire with regards to Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi’s discomfort is cause for concern as Barcelona cannot afford to lose him for any significant amount of time.
Alarm bells should be ringing at Barcelona as star player Lionel Messi has been playing through the pain the past couple of weeks.
According to ESPN, Messi has been dealing with some discomfort in his left thigh. While the club do not believe it is not a serious issue, it is something they are monitoring should it get worse.
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ESPN also report that the new regimen implemented by manager Quique Setien might have exacerbated the problem.
The players went through double-training sessions when Setien first arrived and now the drills have become more intense than they were under Ernesto Valverde.
Messi is Barcelona’s talisman and the last thing they need is for the Argentine to miss any time especially during this part of the season.
The Catalans are already depleted up front given the injuries to Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembélé. They sold Carles Perez and are having to rely on Ansu Fati to complete the attacking trio alongside Messi and Antoine Griezmann.
Since the Suarez injury, Barcelona have as reliant as Messi as ever. Given their injury crisis and the relatively small squad, losing Messi would deal a disastrous blow to their hopes in all competitions.
The club already sit three points behind Real Madrid in the race for the league title and face a difficult challenge in the Copa del Rey in the form of Athletic Bilbao. Napoli, their Champions League opponents, are finally getting some results under their new manager. Everything seems to be going against their favor at the moment.
February is going to be a deciding month with regards to title aspirations. The schedule does not get any easier so Quique Setien is going to need to somehow manage Messi’s minutes and hope things don’t get any worse.
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It is not a reach to say that their fate in all three competitions depends on the health and performance of Lionel Messi.