Barcelona’s Messi dilemma, Chelsea v Liverpool on Friday night: The Big Weekend Preview

Previewing the best of this weekend’s action as well as the footballing world’s biggest talking points.
Do Barcelona have the strength in depth?

It seems ridiculous to question one of the best squads in world football but the Spanish champions have a unique issue. Lionel Messi is so good, so integral to the way his side play that they so often struggle when he is rested. As a result, manager Luis Enrique is loathe to rest his star man; when he is fit, Messi plays.


But the Argentine is now 29. He needs only look over at his rival Cristiano Ronaldo to see injuries becoming more frequent with age. It is in Barcelona’s best interests to manage Messi’s game time, but it may not be possible.

Against Alaves last week, Enrique rested Messi along with Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Barca struggled to breakdown Alaves and lost 2-1.

If Enrique can’t trust his backup players, Messi won’t get any rest and Barca are an injury away from losing him for the key part of the season.

Can PSG rebound?

The French champions romped to the title last season, but they have already stumbled this time around. Their opening four fixtures have been blighted by a demoralising 3-1 defeat at title rivals Monaco and a 1-1 home draw with Saint-Etienne last week, when manager Unai Emery rested several key players ahead of their opening Uefa Champions League Group A fixture against Arsenal on Tuesday. The match finished 1-1.

Two of their most influential players of recent seasons — Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Luiz — left in the summer, and they have a new manager. Is it possible that this squad will struggle to replicate last season’s quality? A tough away trip at Caen on Friday will give us an idea.

Are Leicester out of it already?

Common consensus was that Leicester City would struggle to even make the top four this season, let alone retain their Premier League title.

Four games in and they have just four points. New signings have yet to be integrated into the first XI and they have a Champions League campaign to focus on, too.

Saturday’s match at home to Burnley is a must-win because three of their next four matches are away trips — at Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. The top four could already be out of sight for Leicester after those games.

Players to watch

• Diego Costa, Chelsea: The way Costa has played this season is as if Chelsea have kept him in a dark room all week and only let him out before kick off. He is playing on the edge and it is working, with four league goals in as many games.

But he also seems to be on the verge of a red card at all times. Costa has been booked in three of four games this season and should probably have been sent off in every one.

Liverpool at home on Friday is Chelsea’s biggest game of the season so far. Expect Costa to ramp up the aggression.

• Oliver Burke, RB Leipzig: Big things are expected of the 19-year-old Scottish winger, who signed for Bundesliga new boys RB Leipzig for £13 million (Dh53m) from Nottingham Forest over the summer. He set up the winner on his debut against Borussia Dortmund last week and could emerge as an international star in Germany. People have called him Scotland’s answer to Gareth Bale. That’s an exciting comparison.

• Arkadiusz Milik, Napoli: Poland’s Milik impressed at Euro 2016 and he is doing a good job replacing Gonzalo Higuain at Napoli. Milik, 22, netted 22 league goals at Ajax last season and he has two in three for Napoli so far, plus a double in the Champions League in midweek against Dynamo Kiev.