Why Lionel Messi may not play FC Barcelona's next game?

Lionel Messi travelled very far away to play with Argentina during the international break. The FC Barcelona star went first to Buenos Aires, where his national team defeated 1-0 Ecuador with a goal scored by him, and then to La Paz, where they achieved another victory 2-1 in a stadium that stand 3.600 meters above sea level.

After this long excursion Ronald Koeman is thinking to give a rest to La Pulga and sit him on the bench on FC Barcelona's next game. The Spanish club will be facing Getafe next Saturday in their fourth game in La Liga. So far, they won two matches and draw one, earning seven points.

Even though Koeman obviously want a victory on that game, he may discard Messi. After that match, Barcelona will face a very hard streak, in which they will need Leo: October 20 against Ferencváros on their Champions League debut, October 24 against Real Madrid and October 28 against Juventus for the UCL.

This hard streak of games may force Koeman to decide to give Messi a rest. From the restart of competitions after COVID-19 pandemic, on June, the Argentinian is the only Barcelona player who has played in every single match, another reason to think that he may be out next Saturday.