Barcelona legend Ronald Koeman feels that the absence of Lionel Messi means that Luis Suarez and Neymar need to step up their game in order to compensate for the loss of the Argentine.

Messi suffered a knee injury against Las Palmas in a league clash last weekend and has been ruled out for up to eight weeks as a consequence.




Koeman, who scored a superlative free-kick in the final of the 1992 European Cup against Sampdoria in Wembley to win the match for Barcelona, feels that the club have conceded more goals than they should have this season, but overall they look good.

“This start to the season has asked for more: they have conceded a lot of goals, but the character of the team is good”, the Southampton boss was quoted as saying by Catalan daily Sport.
 


He further added that Messi’s injury will complicate the matters for the club, adding that Suarez and Neymar will have more to do in the absence of club stalwart.

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“Moreover, without Messi playing it is complicated. They need more time. Messi is always necessary. He dribbles, scores, he can only kill the game.

“Now they need players like Luis Suarez and Neymar."

Barcelona will be up against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in their next league fixture tomorrow.