Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was a relieved man after winger Lionel Messi came through his 17-minute cameo against a K-League combined team unscathed.
Messi has just linked up with Barça following an extended break due to his participation in this summer’s FIFA World Cup™ and Guardiola had planned to reserve his star player as he seeks to regain full fitness.
But the organisers of the friendly match in Seoul reportedly threatened to pull the plug on the fixture if Messi did not play at least half an hour. After speaking to the organisers, a compromise was reached, but Guardiola was obliged to give Messi at least some game time, with the winger coming on for a first-half cameo and scoring two of his side’s goals in the 5-2 win.
After the match, the Barça coach said he was relieved his player had come through unscathed in hot and humid conditions and revealed he had told the Argentina winger to take it easy during his time on the pitch.
“We know what Messi represents (to fans across the world) and after speaking to the organisers, we decided that 10 to 15 minutes was fine, but we told him not to overdo it because he hasn’t trained sufficiently,” he told reporters after the match. “I have to think of my players and after just one training session, he couldn’t have played more than he did.”
Barça won the game 5-2, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Victor Sanchez and Jonathan Soriano scoring the other goals for the Catalan side.
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