The first day of the rest of their life. FC Barcelona will play Sunday (8 p.m.) the first official match of the post-Lionel Messi era against Real Sociedad, on behalf of the first day of La Liga, and coach Ronald Koeman assured this Saturday to be “enthusiastic about the team ”, advocating avoiding“ living in the past ”.
Messi’s departure “has been painful for all Blaugrana supporters, for everything Leo has done for this club, for the type of player he is… He will be sorely missed because he has been a very important player in the history of Barça. But we must not live in the past. Things are changing, and I’m very excited about the team we have this year, ”Koeman said at a press conference.
“When we recover the injured, we will have a very strong team to achieve great things. From tomorrow (Sunday), there are no more excuses, there will be points to be won. The team is ready, we have done five weeks of preparation where Leo was not already present, ”recalled the Dutch technician, who is entering his second season on the Catalan bench.
An attacker targeted by the club
Although he has recorded the reinforcements of Sergio Agüero and Memphis Depay and that he is stuck in a disastrous economic situation, Barça is looking to recruit an attacker to make up for the many absences in the offensive sector (Agüero, Ousmane Dembélé, Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho…).
“We’re a bit tight in forwards, so we talked about the possibility of recruiting a striker with a different profile. But that will depend on whether we can recruit. It all depends on financial fair play. If it’s possible, it’s likely that we’ll recruit someone up front, ”Koeman said. Barça, however, was able to benefit from a gesture on the part of four captains of the Catalan locker room: Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets have agreed to lower their salaries to help the club to fit in with the financial fair play set. by LaLiga.