Since the Gamper was played on September 19, Ronald Koeman has made it clear what his starting eleven is. The team that started the club trophy was the same team that came out on the pitch against Villareal, Celta and only against Sevilla did they introduce a forced change due to Lenglet's sanction. After the national team break, the time has come for Koeman to deal with rotations and that includes Messi, who played 90 minutes in La Paz yesterday against Bolivia in a match corresponding to the South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and which was key in Argentina's triumph in a cursed field for them.
The Argentine, who has advanced his return and is expected this afternoon in Barcelona, could enter the rotations for the first time the Dutch coach, who will have to change the names of his starting eleven assessing the status of the players and the minutes they have played with their respective teams.
Koeman must think in the middle term because from now on the calendar is compressed for Barça that after facing Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez will chain three matches of the highest demand in which the main figures of Barça must be at their best level and in which Koeman should return to his security eleven.
After playing in Getafe next Saturday Barça will debut on Tuesday in the Champions League at the Camp Nou against Getafe before facing Real Madrid on Saturday in the first Clásico of the season. And there is still more, four days later, on Wednesday 28 the Blaugrana squad must travel to Turin to play against Juventus the second day of the Champions League.
For now, until Thursday of this week, Koeman will not be able to count on all of his players to prepare for Saturday's game. Just two training sessions to visit a traditionally complicated field. Since October 9, Koeman has led family training sessions, with only five skillful players at his disposal: Neto, Dest, Piqué, Aleñá and Dembélé. Of these, the last two hardly count for the Dutch coach. Ter Stegen, Alba, Umtiti, Junior and Matheus have also stayed in Barcelona, but all of them are injured and do not arrive on time for the next day's appointment.
Thus, the time has come for the new coach of the Blaugrana team to begin to vary on the scheme that he has kept immovable during his first three weeks in charge of the team. Messi will arrive soon, but what comes after makes one think about reserving the Argentine star after his two games in South America, especially the last one at the height of Bolivia.