Lionel Messi has not been included in Barcelona's squad for
Sunday's match away against Levante as the Catalan side look
to take a step closer to an unbeaten season.
Barca can stretch their unbeaten run to 44 games in La Liga if
they avoid defeat in Valencia, with 37 of those games coming
in the current campaign.
They would then only need to navigate next weekend's home
game against Real Sociedad to become the first-ever side to
end a 38-game season in Spain's top flight unbeaten.
However, they will travel to the Ciutat de Valencia stadium
without talisman Messi, who has been given a rest by coach
Ernesto Valverde, presumably with the World Cup in mind.
Valverde previously had to tell Argentina that the country
doesn't need to worry about Messi's fitness going into this
summer's tournament in Russia after the forward picked up a
hamstring injury in April.
Messi had been expected to feature against Levante as he
looks to wrap up a fifth European Golden Shoe. With 34 league
goals this season, he is three ahead of his nearest challenger,
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, so is unlikely to be caught
regardless.
Valverde, meanwhile, said he wants his side to make history
by going the whole season unbeaten. Real Madrid and Athletic
Bilbao managed unbeaten seasons in 1932 and 1930
respectively, but the length of the championship was only 18
games in those days.
"In principle, that's never been an objective for us, but now that
we have won the league we need new motivations and that's a
very clear one," Valverde said in a news conference. "It's been
a long time since anyone did it and we're close to achieving it
this year. Our main objectives are already completed, so let's
see if we can now go unbeaten. It would be historic."
As attention in the local press turns to the summer transfer
window, Valverde insisted the only thing he is focused on is
the Levante game. The Valencia-based side have secured their
top-flight status for another season courtesy of picking up 23
points in their last 10 matches, including winning their last four
games.
But the Barca coach admitted there have already been some
talks with regards to finalising the squad for what will be his
second season in charge.
"We have touched on what we want to do this summer
slightly," he said. "But we want to focus on the end of the
season first. If we were thinking about players for next season,
I think we would lose that competitive edge. It's a distraction."
Valverde said the club will look within to replace the departing
Andres Iniesta at first, with B team midfielder Carles Alena
likely to be promoted to the first team.
"The first idea is to look at what we have here: [Philippe]
Coutinho's good in [Iniesta's] position and there are other
players, too, like Alena from the B team," he said. "I think it's
more or less clear [Alena will be promoted], he's been training
with us all season. We will see later [if more come up with
him]. There's Oriol Busquets, but we will need to see how he
is after his injury.
"We always have to be following the [transfer] market, too. We
lost an important player last year [Neymar] in a surprising
manner and we had to improvise. Things were turned inside
out.
"With Andres, we know he's leaving, so we have some time to
plan. Some players are so special and unique, though, that it
would be a lie to say you won't miss them. Of course we will
miss him, so we need to find another way of balancing the
team without him."
As well as Messi, Barca will be without Sergi Roberto, Samuel
Umtiti and Aleix Vidal. Sergi Roberto is serving the second
game of a four-match ban following his Clasico dismissal, a
match which also saw Umtiti injure his knee.
Winger Vidal, meanwhile, has been left out for the third
consecutive league fixture and is expected to be one of the
players available for transfer this summer.
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