Champions League - Group G
BarcelonaBarcelona20:00Ferencvárosi TCFerencvárosi TC
Venue: Camp Nou

Barcelona: Lionel Messi 'could be playing better', says Ronald Koeman

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi has scored 115 goals in the Champions League - second only to Cristiano Ronaldo (130)

Lionel Messi's performances "could be better" but the Barcelona captain is "happy", says new manager Ronald Koeman.

Argentina forward Messi, 33, tried to leave the club this summer and called the transfer saga "a brutal drama".

He has scored once so far this season.

"I don't have any complaints or doubts about his effort," said Koeman, whose side open their Champions League campaign against Ferencvaros on Tuesday (20:00 BST kick-off).

"Right now his performances could be better. On a day-to-day basis, he's happy and wants to play and be the team's captain."

Messi is in the final year of his contract and will come up against Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo in Group G of this season's Champions League, a competition they have not won since 2015.

Italian champions Juve will prove tough opposition and Koeman played down Barcelona's chances of helping Messi to another win this year.

"When you're at Barcelona you always want to be there fighting for trophies, be it in La Liga or Europe," said the former Netherlands manager.

"We aren't the favourites, but we can go far."

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Tuesday 20th October 2020

As It Stands

A

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1Atl Madrid00000000
2Bayern Munich00000000
3RB Salzburg00000000
4Lokomotiv Moscow00000000

B

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1B Mgladbach00000000
2Inter Milan00000000
3Real Madrid00000000
4Shakhtar Donetsk00000000

C

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1FC Porto00000000
2Man City00000000
3Marseille00000000
4Olympiakos00000000

D

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1Ajax00000000
2Atalanta00000000
3FC Midtjylland00000000
4Liverpool00000000

E

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1Chelsea00000000
2FK Krasnodar00000000
3Rennes00000000
4Sevilla00000000

F

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1B Dortmund00000000
2Club Bruges00000000
3Lazio00000000
4Zenit St Petersburg00000000

G

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1Barcelona00000000
2Dynamo Kyiv00000000
3Ferencvárosi TC00000000
4Juventus00000000

H

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1Istanbul Basaksehir00000000
2Man Utd00000000
3PSG00000000
4RB Leipzig00000000
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