Amidst calls to rest the genius Lionel Messi at Barcelona so that he remains in fine shape for Argentina during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Ernesto Valverde says Messi has the desire to win it all with both club and country.
It is the President of the Argentina FA, Claudio Tapia who stoked this debate and added more fuel to the fire when he said that he had spoken with Messi over not playing as much for Barcelona so as to be fresher for the World Cup and that hasn’t gone down too well at the Nou Camp.
Barca’s coach Valverde though tried to deflect any controversy when he addressed a press conference and said “With Messi, he aims to win everything with Barcelona and his national team. The fatigue is more mental than physical, the weeks when you have four days rest you can manage better than three,” explained Valverde.
“We will have three before we take on Chelsea and Chelsea will have four. That day extra, to have a break from the pressure of staying in the cup is good to have,” he added.
Valverde is placing the Eibar clash on the weekend as most important whilst the Chelsea tie has been put aside for the moment.
“In terms of important games, Eibar is important and we are not thinking about Chelsea,” he went on.
“The week was free and now we have games again after each other. We need to get going again and after the Getafe game this is now even more important.”
“There is a long way to go and it is never easy to pick up three points. The recent draws have seen Barcelona's lead at the top of the table reduced,” said the coach.
“If you look at the table and see the points then it is clear that we can afford to lose but that is a mistake to look at it that way, we need to always go into the next game trying to be strong.”
“I like the spirit in this team, how they overcome problems and the way they don't look too far ahead,” Valverde concluded.
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