Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has decided to leave Lionel Messi out of Tuesday’s Champions League game against Dynamo Kyiv, which he says is a precautionary measure.
This was revealed by Koeman at his press conference Monday where he announced his 19-man squad.
Messi and midfielder Frenkie de Jong have been eliminated because they are in a good position in their group, but they are fighting for 12th place in LaLiga.
Messi played the full 90 minutes of Barça’s 1-0 loss to Atlético de Madrid on Saturday, but was not included in the list of players who will travel to Ukraine for the Group G match.
The club cannot afford another injury after Gerard Piqué and Sergi Roberto joined Ansu Fati and Samuel Umtiti on the long-term absent list.
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