While Barcelona were doing their morning training in Budapest to prepare for Wednesday evening’s Champions League clash with Ferencvaros, Lionel Messi and two of his teammates were putting in work at the Ciutat Esportiva in Catalonia.
Barcelona have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition so coach Ronald Koeman thought it prudent to rest his talisman for the flurry of important fixtures down the road according to a report in Diario AS.
Messi agreed upon a specific plan with Koeman so as to be in the best shape possible for this weekend’s clash with Cadiz. Messi was also rested for last week’s European clash with Dynamo Kyiv, alongside Frenkie de Jong.
De Jong did travel to Hungary but Philippe Coutinho and Marc-Andre ter Stegen both stayed behind with Messi having also been rested. Ter Stegen is coming out of a knee injury while Coutinho missed a month of action after picking up a knock in El Clasico.
There was also a match between the B team and a youth side at the Ciutat Esportiva with the ambition of testing out the robustness of Samuel Umtiti’s knee. The French defender has had a recurring problem and is looking to return to action soon to help ease Barcelona’s weakness at centre-back.
Featured image courtesy of TalkSport.
