Ronald Koeman grants Lionel Messi his biggest wish of the season

Koeman has helped Messi in staying happy at Barcelona even though his days are numbered and his most recent act of kindness will be helpful.

Barcelona grabbed a convincing 4-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. One of the biggest highlights from the big success in Ukraine was the fact that Lionel Messi was rested and did not travel on a long flight to easter Europe. Even without him, the Blaugrana coped incredibly well and sealed their qualification into the last 16.

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As Barcelona look to get their La Liga campaign back on track in the coming weeks, they will look to turn to Lionel Messi. Thankfully, Ronald Koeman managed to rotate the squad and give the player a much-needed rest. No doubt, Messi will return strongly and perhaps help the Catalans cope against a very difficult run of fixtures, where they cannot drop points.

So far, the Blaugrana have already suffered no less than three losses in the league and one of the main reasons for that has been the fact that Messi has underperformed having been overworked. Over the last couple of months, he has barely missed a minute for the side and also travelled across the globe to represent Argentina in the World Cup qualifiers.

Given that the next two Champions League results against Ferencvaros and Juventus will absolutely not matter to Barcelona and their chances of qualifying into the next round, Messi should continue to be rested. This will be good in two ways, one, because he will be at the top of his game as Barca play catch-up in La Liga.

Two, because the Camp Nou outfit will at least learn the tactically cope in the absence of their superstar because all things point towards him being totally absent at the end of his deal. Messi himself would have wished for a rest and Koeman obliged, but with the bigger picture in mind, it was a great choice by the Dutch manager.