Guardiola: ‘Messi is as eager as ever. He self motivates. He could have scored four goals against Real Sociedad. He scored an amazing goal after a very good pass from Dani Alves and assisted Tello. As long as he’s feeling well, he’ll play’
Dani Alves: ‘Leo Messi doesn’t only score goals. He’s a player that works so hard, he tries to do everything, and it’s all for the team. We’re very happy with his work regardless of the goals he scores’
Mascherano: ‘Messi scored the other day and he looks fine to me. The coach decides how much he needs to play. He helps us a lot. For the matter of rest, we have physios and a coach who take charge of that. He is a player who prefers playing to training. Every physique is different. If he plays every match it’s because he’s in the condition to do so’
Thiago: ‘Messi was a born winner. He is brave enough to take the ball and take the responsibility for each penalty. He did not score against Real Sociedad, but that is not a problem. We have the best player in the world amongst us, but we do not depend on him’
Thiago: ‘We have to exploit and use the power of each player, and if we have players like him or Xavi, we can certainly draw inspiration from them. I am only talking about two of them, but there are so many. We certainly are not dependent on Messi’
– It would be blind to deny that Messi’s level has somehow dropped over the last few matches. La Pulga doesn’t seem as fresh as he was in December, when he could apparently do no wrong.
I’m not at all surprised. The Little Argentinian Genius plays every Barça match if he’s available. When it comes to Leo, Guardiola doesn’t seem to understand what the words ‘team rotation’ actually mean.
The truth is La Pulga has virtually played non-stop football for over 4 years, only resting for about 2 weeks in the Summer, then again in Winter. I must admit I am both amazed and surprised that, despite every other Blaugrana player suffering from injury this season, Leo is still standing and leading the team forward.
I admire Messi’s determination and willingness to always play and help the team on the pitch but I’m afraid so much football is causing him too much fatigue, not only physical, but also mental. Plus, the ultimate decision on whether a player makes the team or not must be the manager’s, not the player’s. Leo needs and deserves a rest!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware that even the current ‘lesser’ version of Messi is better than 99.999% of footballers in current world football. Barça would really struggle without Leo, the guy scores in virtually every match and, when he does, he always creates a sneaky goal assist for another teammate. Nobody can do his job better. That’s why he’s the best, a unique jewell!!!
GUARDIOLA: WE NEED TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF MESSI, WE WANT OUR PULGA TO BE FIT FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!!!!
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