Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona loss the Supercopa De Espana final to Athletic Bilbao.
It also saw Messi send off with a red card but Koeman came to his rescue.
“I can understand what Messi did,” Koeman said afterwards.
“I don’t know how many times they fouled him, and it’s normal to react when they keep trying to foul you as a player who is looking to dribble with the ball, but I need to see it again properly.”
“Leo, after so many years in the elite of football, knows perfectly if he is in condition or not,” Koeman said.
“We spoke before, he said he was in condition to play the game, he has given his maximum and nothing else.”
“We are sad, disappointed by the result,” Koeman added. “We played the final to win and not to lose that, yes. But there is no time to get off. We’ll be playing soon, there’s a cup and a league, there’s no time for regrets.
“We have done positive things, we have improved. We have failed in the goals received. We have to be more forceful in defence. We must defend better in the area and not let the opponents think, they cannot control, turn and shoot easily. We can improve.
“My work … I give the maximum I can. My work is not very good if we had won, nor very bad for losing. We are on the way, there are positive things, although losing today is very hard.”
See More:Â Barcelona transfers list 2021: Players bought and sold!
