Ernesto Valverde had chats with both Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez during training ahead of the match with Real Sociedad. Both players featured heavily for their countries during the international break, and the Barcelona boss has been checking in to see how they are feeling before the game.
Lionel Messi was left distraught after Argentina’s Copa America defeat to Chile in 2016. Former Barcelona and Argentina fitness coach Elvio Paolorosso explained how hard he took defeat: “The dressing room after the Copa America was very painful, but the worst was to come. At two in the morning, more or less, I went to the store room and found Leo completely alone, crying like a kid who had lost his mother.