Barcelona get ready to take on Sporting Gijon
Barcelona gear up for action in the Spanish La Liga against Sporting Gijon, but without their wonder kid Lionel Messi. Team manager Pep Guradiolla has said that Messi would surely be missed but there is more than enough talent
in the squad to fill that void.
The Argentine forward was injured in a match against Atletico Madrid when Tomas Ujfalusi tackled him from behind. Messi’s injury at that time was believed to be minimal but it was later revealed that the left footer would be out
of action for at least 10 days. Barcelona won that match 2-1 on Sunday at Vicente Calderon.
Guardiola while commenting on the injury to his star player said that the injury is not that serious, and thankfully it is not as dangerous as first believed. The manager said that Messi hurt his ankle and would not be in action
for 10 days or so. Guradiola said that : "Messi came off the pitch crying and in great shock,".
"It could have been worse, but in the dressing room the doctors ruled out a break.
"Messi has been lucky because in the images it looks as if he has done more damage than he has."
After the match the Atletico player Ujfalusi faced a lot of criticism from the media saying that it was an ugly tackle and he deliberately went in to hurt Messi. The Barca manager said that he has no doubts that Ujfalusi had no
intentions of hurting Messi and these kinds of things tend to happen in a match.
Guardiola said : "I don't think Ujfalusi went out to injure Messi - it happens in the world of football," he said.
"The Atletico player was moving fast and I don't think there is a bad intention - these things happen and I have no complaints about the injury."
The treble winning manager is now facing the impossible task of replacing the best player in the world for the next game against Sporting Gijon. The manager however admitted that there is no way that Messi can be replaced
"Leo is irreplaceable," he said.
"But we'll move forward. Now he needs to recover from his ankle injury. He has some other knocks and we want him to get better properly.
"If he is all right, he will travel with us for the (Champions League) game against Rubin Kazan (next week)."
With Messi now out with an injury, there is a high chance that the man who scored the world cup winning goal, Andres Iniesta, will be promoted to a more advanced front position in the line up. The young world cup winner Pedro is
expected to feature on the right flank on the 3 man attacking line.
With fixtures for Barcelona coming thick and fast, Guradiola may be tempted to rotate his squad. After the midweek match there is a match against Athletic Bilbao away from home, followed by a trip to Russia in the Champions’ League.
The manager said that he is not bothered by the team selection, and he knows that his squad has enough class and depth to overturn Sporting Gijon regardless of the team he selects
"Since (Sporting coach) Manolo Preciado has been there we have played them four times," he said.
"They usually do the same things and I know him well. Every team has their peculiarities and we will try to win the three points."
Barcelona currently lies in the unfamiliar 6th spot in the league table. The defending champions suffered a shock loss to recently promoted team Hercules in the last league match. Valencia are 3 points ahead of Barcelona
and on top of the table, while Real Madrid are ahead of Barca by just one point.
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