Lionel Messi suffered at this point more damage dissatisfaction on Tuesday in the wake of going off at half-time against Villarreal yet Barcelona gave their mentor Ernesto Valverde some genuinely necessary alleviation with an agreeable 2-1 triumph. Messi got treatment in the principal half for what resembled an issue with his left thigh and was then unfit to proceed after the interim, supplanted by Ousmane Dembele. His withdrawal will be a noteworthy worry for Barca, especially given this was Messi’s first beginning of the period after simply recuperating from niggling calf damage supported toward the beginning of August.
After the match, Valverde struck a note of calm. “When something happens to Messi, everyone stops, not only on the field but in the stands as well,” he said. “It is a small problem in the adductor and as a precaution, we have decided not to risk it. In theory, it is nothing more but we will see tomorrow how it is.” Barcelona visits Getafe in La Liga on Saturday before playing Inter Milan at home in the Champions League four days later.
Positively, they would have been anxious to see Messi back in their line-up, having endured a lowering 2-0 misfortune at recently advanced Granada a weekend ago, an outcome that left them with seven points from five games, they are most noticeably awful start to a season since 1995.
They landed at Camp Nou with questions drifting, especially over Valverde, yet conveyed a definitely more persuading success than the scoreline proposed, on account of early objectives from Antoine Griezmann, his third of the period, and Arthur Melo.
“We are still far from our best but with matches, everything will improve,” said Griezmann.
On his own adaptation at Barcelona, he added: “It’s different. A different style of football, a different position. I knew it was going to be a challenge and it would take time.
“But I’m not too bad, right? Three goals. I can do better, yes, but I have to keep working.”
