Ernesto Valverde has been talking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Barcelona’s opening game of the 2019-20 Champions League on Tuesday at Borussia Dortmund.
The Barcelona boss offered an update on Lionel Messi’s fitness, discussed 16-year-old starlet Ansu Fati, former striker Paco Alcacer and Tuesday’s opponents.
Here are the best bits:
Valverde on Messi
He has improved a lot. We’ll decide tomorrow [if he’ll play]. We weren’t sure a week ago if he’d be ready in time, but there’s been a lot of progress. In the last training session, he finished well and the fear of feeling pain is leaving his head.