Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said he was not concerned by Lionel Messi’s penalty miss in the 4-1 win over Levante on Sunday.
Messi hit a brace in the victory and scored his first spot-kick of the evening but missed the target with his second.
The Argentina star has missed six penalties in 44 attempts over the course of his Barca career but Enrique feels his performances more than make up for any perceived failings from the penalty spot.
“To miss penalties does not make Messi human,” Enrique told reporters when asked if Messi’s penalty issue actually made the forward seem human. “Then he scores two goals and gives an assist. There is very little human about Messi.”
Barca fielded an attacking line-up against Levante with just two players operating as conventional midfielders, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic, in the starting XI and Enrique says using different systems will make the Catalan giants more effective and harder to defend against.
“To change the system is an option we have, and we tried it as we knew Levante would play with five defenders,” he said. “To be able to change the system, and for opponents not to know how we’ll play, is good. In 22 days we will play seven games, we have already played three or four of them, and the players need to rest and for playing time to be shared.”
There is a full round of midweek La Liga fixtures and Barcelona travel to Celta Vigo on Wednesday.
Enrique’s men are 1.44 to claim all three points or 10.00 to win 3-0.
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