This Saturday, Leo Messi should you pass the mic to Ronald Koeman. The two, the demigod of Barcelona and the hero of Wembley, should give the gamper trophy speeches that Barça plays against Elche. They would be difficult parliaments, without a doubt, after 2-8 in Lisbon, but also necessary for the fans and, perhaps, exciting. It won't be like that. The closed doors of the pandemic prevent it.
But Messi and Koeman yes they will follow being protagonists. In fact, it is possible that, in the midst of the tremendous institutional storm that surrounds Barça, be the two keys to the future of sports of a team that, due to his latest sports results and the social reality that surrounds him today, does not enter in the candidacy for nothing this course.
A domino image Above all the Barça-Girona this Wednesday. It was that of Koeman and Messi shaking hands. It's an absolutely normal scene, but comes later of a weather which has been anything but that. On August 19, Koeman was introduced as coach from Barça. “I don't know if I have to seduce messi or not, “he said that day. The Zaandam Dutchman knew something that he could not say. It came out only six days later. Shortly after meeting with the coach, with the decision already made as it became known a posteriori, Messi communicated that was going. It was just the day after Koeman, in a club interview, say that “Messi will find his space in the evolution of the team … “For a moment, it seemed that they would not coincide in the dressing room.
Koeman has been cold with Messi. Far from being absolutely docile like Setién, the Dutchman has transmitted professional messages. “I want it here because win games“he said in the presentation to make it clear that he is a pragmatist, but that neither did he come to win the friendship of the Argentine and that he needed to conquer his space and change certain things at locker room. Messi, absolute boss of the house for so many years, this course will continue to be so. Not even certain slights that have sitting bad in the dressing room (criticizing the project and the signings was, directly or indirectly, criticizing the quality of their teammates) they will turn their tremendous ancestry and the great respect it produces. But Koeman is boss. He is also a hero for the fans and he wants his space. If the coexistence will be possible After everything that's happened, that's only going to say time. In the locker room there are also expectation to know if, once and for all, they will terminate privileges and the players are going to be considered, albeit roughly, equally. The favorable treatment of certain players was already frowned upon in the Barça dressing room. But Messi is not a certain player, it is the biggest in the club's history. In that Messi-Koeman relationship It may be the key to Barça 2020-21.