Following his two-goal heroics against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/CA-Osasuna-c38712 in a January 4 Copa del Rey fixture, Lionel Messi explained that he had stomach pains before the match.
Osasuna coach, Jose Luis Mendilibar, was clearly annoyed with the ‘Messi in, Messi out’ saga before the cup match and voiced his frustrations in the post-match press conference.
Mendilibar stated that it was a strange match from the start, with Barcelona demanding the first leg to be played in Pamplona due to turf change at Camp Nou and the fiasco regarding Messi’s availability for the match.
"It was a strange game from the beginning. They started messing with the draw to change the turf, after that if Messi is back from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Argentina-c2841, if he is sick. We were told to go home ... What are we going to do," he said.
Clarifying on the matter, the diminutive forward stated that he was not down with fever but had minor stomach ache which did not allow him to attend Barcelona’s morning session. However, he reflected that he was still able to recover in time and made the
final squad.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 said:
"I threw up and had no fever, my stomach only hurt, nothing more. So I could not leave in the morning workout but then I recovered well to play."
It is for the first time that Messi played in Barcelona’s first match of the new calendar year since making his debut back in October 2004.
The Argentine captain took his place on the bench and was introduced on the pitch at the expense of fellow La Masia graduate, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-c29582 Rodriguez, at the hour mark.
Messi was simply at his brilliant best. The Argentinean star scored two goals, first in the 72nd minute, before adding his second of the match in stoppage time.
Messi expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance, reflecting that they have taken a sizeable lead ahead of the difficult return leg at Pamplona.
"We knew the need to have a good result because of the difficulty of playing around in a field like Pamplona and we succeeded in our goal," the Ballon d’Or nominee stated.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 are now going to return to La Liga action on the coming weekend. The Spanish Champions will be facing their local city rivals, Espanyol, away from home. It is a must-win situation for La Blaugrana as Madrid are currently leading the points table.
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