Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman says opponents showing more courage against Barca without Lionel Messi
Ronald Koeman
FC Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has said that the other teams are playing bold as the La Liga giants are without star player Lionel Messi, who recently joined Paris St Germainfollowing 21 years at the club.
After Barcelona was held 1-1 away to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday (August 21), Koeman was quizzed about the game and the absence of Messi.
During the match, a late strike from Memphis Depay cancelled out Inigo Martinez's header to earn Barca a point. The coach said that "opponents are always more scared when Messi is around".
"I don't like to keep talking about the same thing but we're talking about the best player in the world and opponents are always more scared when Messi is around," Koeman told reporters.
"It's also the same for us, if you give a pass to Messi, he normally doesn't lose the ball. You can feel that he is not here any more. We all know it but we can't change it."
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"But I have to highlight the attitude we showed after we went behind. I think the draw is fair because if you play like we did at a ground like this you're always going to run into trouble. I have no complaints about the result."
Regarding the match, Koeman said, "I think we have to highlight the attitude we showed especially after we went behind 1-0. And additionally, we had chances to win the match."
He added, "I think the draw is fair because we saw an Athletic who played at a top level. And if you play like we did at a tough ground like this, you can't complain about the result."
(with inputs from agencies)