Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde confirms Lionel Messi will play against Roma tomorrow, while Sergio Busquets “will be better today and tomorrow”.
The Blaugrana welcome Eusebio Di Francesco’s side to Camp Nou for the first leg of the Champions League Quarter-Final, but were sweating over the fitness of two of their most important players.
“Messi? If he’s called-up, he’ll play,” Valverde said in his pre-match Press conference.
Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde confirms Lionel Messi will play against Roma tomorrow, while Sergio Busquets “will be better today and tomorrow”.
The Blaugrana welcome Eusebio Di Francesco’s side to Camp Nou for the first leg of the Champions League Quarter-Final, but were sweating over the fitness of two of their most important players.
“Messi? If he’s called-up, he’ll play,” Valverde said in his pre-match Press conference.
“With respect to the previous days he’s better. Busquets trained for an important part of the session yesterday, and I think he’ll be better today and tomorrow.
“He’s an important player for us, he and Messi are fundamental players.”
Barça are heavy favourites to go through, but Valverde doesn’t quite see it that way.
“They say we are, but the truth is that the pitch decides. We have a lot of respect for Roma.
“It’s no surprise that they got to the Quarter-Finals because they play very well, they attack and defend well and they’re hard to beat when they’re in form.
“It’s a Quarter-Final like all the others, we face it hoping to go through knowing that we have a 50 per cent chance before the match.
“At this point in the competition I don’t think games can be decided in the first leg, because the opponents are so good.
“We need to adapt and win the game, but a good game won’t be enough: we need two.
“They’re very good at pressing high, we need to try and defend and dominate their game.
“The fact they’re an Italian team definitely gives us guarantees about how competitive they’ll be.
“We want to win the trophy, but so far we’ve done nothing, some things will be decided this month. We already have a final to play [the Copa del Rey] and the aim is to progress in every competition.”