Barça, forced to show off its European face against the diminished Dinamo

The hesitant Barça in the League, a competition in which they have only added two points from the last twelve in play, returns to the Champions League, where they are showing their best side, with two solvent victories against Ferencvaros (5-1) and Juventus (0-2). Ronald Koeman’s team receives Dinamo Kiev on the third day at the Camp Nou, who has a point and appears at the Barça Stadium so diminished by the casualties caused by the coronavirus that the game ran the risk of being postponed if in the Ukrainian expedition detected one more positive. Finally, those present were negative in the last test and will be able to play, except for a new health crisis. The old Mircea Lucescu will present a team of circumstances, although Koeman already recalled that this is not a reason to relax “because Shakhtar Donetsk came to the Madrid field with the same problem and ended up winning.”

The health authorities forced Dinamo Kiev players and technicians to pass a new control this Tuesday morning at the hotel, already in Barcelona. In the afternoon the results were known: all well, fit to play The Ukrainian club, before flying from Kiev on Monday, announced six new positives (Georgy Tsitaishvili, Denis Garmash, Mikkel Duelund, Alexander Karavaev, Tudor Belutse and Mykola Shaparenko) that They joined the three already known previously: the central Vitaliy Mykolenko and the two first team goalkeepers Denys Boyko and Heorhiy Buschan. As if that were not enough, Sydorchuk is sanctioned. And there are three more long-term injuries. In short, thirteen casualties that have already remained in Ukraine In addition, the analyzes detected the coronavirus in the assistant coach, Emil Karas, and in four other members of the Dinamo coaching staff.

Lucescu managed to summon 19 players from the first squad, the reserve team and the youth team, including Nescheret, an 18-year-old goalkeeper who will have to keep Messi from resisting his first play goal of the course. He has three penalties: one in the league and two in Europe. Precisely, the Argentine made news in the previous one because Ronald Koeman denied that he is such a difficult player to manage as Quique Setién assured: “I do not agree, but I respect his opinion. I talk to him every week about things about the team and the dressing room. Every day it shows its winning character ».

Ter Stegen, who underwent knee surgery on August 18, a few days after 2-8 against Bayern, could receive medical discharge after the last morning session before the game and enter the call-up. His recovery comes just after the failure of Neto in Vitoria that cost the 1-1 goal, a circumstance that eliminates doubts about the convenience of the immediate return of the German to the title.

Koeman will make rotations, although the losses due to injury of the central Araujo and Umtiti force him to maintain the defensive axis formed by Piqué and Lenglet. Dest will be able to enter the right side and Pjanic in the double pivot for a Busquets that begins to see his ownership in danger. Up Coutinho is also still out, so Messi, Pedri, Griezmann and Ansu Fati seem fixed ahead of Trincao and Braithwaite, with options for the Portuguese.

The Dutch coach, by the way, assured this Tuesday that he has no problems leading Leo Messi. He thus came out in the wake of some statements by his predecessor, Quique Setién, in which the Cantabrian coach stated that it was difficult to manage the Argentine star. “Leo is a very, very good player, he is the best in the world for me and I am seeing his ambition and his winning character every day,” Koeman said at the press conference prior to the match against the Ukrainians. “He is not a player on the team that has difficulties to lead, but each coach is different,” added the Barça coach, specifying that he respects Setién’s opinion. “For me he is the captain and I talk to him every week about things from the field and the locker room,” Koeman concluded.