Lionel Messi during the Atlético Madrid-Barça match, November 21, 2020. -

JUANJO MARTÍN / EFE / SIPA

Ronaldo Koeman takes a risk.

Weakened by his results in La Liga, where Barça made their worst start in 20 years, the Dutch coach decided to do without Lionel Messi for the Champions League meeting on the pitch of Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday.

Certainly, with three victories in three games, the Catalan club is on course to qualify without too much difficulty for the round of 16, but a defeat would make the climate even heavier.

Koeman assumes.

“We have decided that Messi and De Jong will not travel because the situation in the Champions League is quite comfortable with the points we have, and these two players need to rest.

They play a lot of matches, ”explained the technician at a press conference.

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For the rest, he was quite resigned to the current situation of his team.

“What more can I do?” He asked, as if he was already out of ideas.

Like any coach, the manager is me.

We know that we need better results, we have to improve in attack, in defense ... We are working, I can do nothing more.

"

The infirmary is packed

In the game, Barça offered great flashes at the start of the season, but then gradually died out, to return to its through the 2019-2020 season.

"Koeman has once again scribbled on Blaugrana football, deserting the midfielder and stacking the attacking players without any game plan. To attack by force has never been Barca's philosophy," lamented the journalist Javier Sillé in the daily

As

.

To make matters worse, the injured are piling up.

Ansu Fati is on the side for several months, as is Gérard Piqué, seriously injured in the knee this weekend.

Side Sergi Roberto will also miss long weeks.

Only Clément Lenglet is able to play in defense.

Koeman is going to have to show some ingenuity to get through this delicate time, and reading his statements, that doesn't seem to be the state of mind at the moment.

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