Raymond Verheijen: The demands on Lionel Messi and Co are "not human"

Football coach and leading fitness expert Raymond Verheijen told Sport that while Barcelona playing Lionel Messi on Saturday after his groin injury wasn’t ideal, it’s actually better than what usually happens following international breaks.

The Dutchman is an outspoken critic of the modern game’s demands on players, believing there needs to be more time to rest for footballers between each game, to reduce injury and improve performance.

Messi, who travelled to South America with a groin problem, featured for Argentina last Thursday night against Uruguay, which aggravated his complaint.

The Argentine star flew back to Barcelona on Saturday night, arriving on Sunday morning, before having tests which showed he had a problem. 

However, coach Luis Enrique says Messi is ready to play against Alaves on Saturday night.

If the Asturian is correct and Messi is fit to play, then by missing his country’s second clash against Venezuela he is actually less likely to get injured than usual after these type of stoppages to domestic competition, according to Verheijen. 

“It's not ideal, but that should be fine. They have done worse. Messi has played on Tuesday, arrived back in Barcelona on Wednesday and played on Saturday,” he explained. 

“This, although it's still not ideal, is less of a problem compared to the normal situation in which he would have played, and then it would be worse. Governing bodies [FIFA, UEFA] should protect these players. 

“It is not human to do this. The governing bodies are responsible and they put that responsibility on the head of the head coach, they have to rotate. It should not be the coach who has to deals with it - the governing bodies should make sure this problem doesn't happen.

“Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, these players are very important for football, like Usain Bolt is very important for athletics. it's very important that people treat them carefully. But now people are exploiting these ambassadors instead of treating them carefully.”

Asked if he thinks fatigue was the main factor in Barcelona’s slump towards the end of the season which saw them eliminated from the UEFA Champions League and then nearly throw away their lead in the title race, with the decline starting after Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar had flown back from South America after playing for their countries, Verheijen was clear.

“Asking the question is answering the question. It's fatigue. It means that you play football slower. You play more inaccurately, making more mistakes, and your performance will drop. It's not rocket science,” he said, offering a solution to the congested calendar which forces players to travel to play for their countries several times during the club season.

“Don't fly to South America eight times a year. Do the international games in bigger blocks. Play all your games in four weeks, for example. One summer you play four weeks of qualifying games, next summer you play the tournament,” he said.

“When you don't play national team games in the season, the season is a bit shorter. At the end of the season you have more time for national team games. That is much better than this flying up and down all the time. You have more space in the season so you don't have to play that many midweek games - all the league games would take place on the weekends.

“I can drop this and you can write it, if you use big headlines then people will read it but it doesn't mean people will adopt it. It's up to the governing bodies.”

While Messi has been able to rest and recover during this week, Suarez and Neymar featured for Uruguay and Brazil respectively. 

Luis Enrique may choose to rest the former against Alaves, with new signing Paco Alcacer waiting in the wings for his debut, but the Brazilian is eager to play and is expecting to start against the newly promoted side.