Barcelona in a whirl over rotation and a defence leaking goals | Sid Lowe

Attempting to rest Lionel Messi before Barça’s Champions League trip to Spurs did not go to plan for Ernesto Valverde

The first part of Ernesto Valverde’s plan for Wembley lasted under an hour. The idea was to rest Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets, ready for Wednesday’s game with Tottenham, but Barcelona were losing 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, so he decided it was time to bring them on.

Messi made an equaliser for Munir El Haddadi and hit the post but it was not enough. Barcelona were held again: defeated in midweek by bottom-placed Leganés, held by Girona before that, they had dropped seven points in six days.

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