04.08.2010 16:42

Guardiola: "It is normal that they want Messi"

Anna Segura

Josep Guardiola has revealed that he took the advice of his coaching staff before allowing Lionel Messi to make his first appearance of pre-season so son after he returned from holiday.

The FC Barcelona coach was thought to be ready to leave the Argentinian on the bench in the encounter with a K-League Select XI on Wednesday but played him for 15 minutes to devastating effect.

“Tito Vilanova and the physiotherapists said that he could play for ten minutes or so and in the end we let him go on,” the trainer explained after watching Messi score twice in his first-half cameo in South Korea.

“The fans wanted to see Messi and that is normal,” Guardiola continued. “We understand that he is here and people want to see as many players as possible. If there had been any chance that he could have suffered an injury then I would not have let him play.”

Training session

The talk earlier in the week had been about Messi not being ready and that both he and Dani Alves would be kept back until Barça’s second game of their Asian trip in China. Guardiola explained why he had been reluctant: “Leo has only had one day of training and there was a lot of heat and humidity and it was a great risk to play him for more than 15 minutes.”

Heat and humidity

Fitness coach Paco Seirul.lo was well aware of what the players would face in South Korea. “He came here a few years ago and said that we should come because it would not be harmful and everyone would be fine. But some of the players were affected by the conditions.”