Pique reveals the reason behind Barcelona’s slow start to the season

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has pointed his finger at the club’s pre-season routine to explain the team’s slow start to the season. 

The reigning La Liga champions returned to winning ways on Tuesday as goals from new signing Antoine Griezmann and midfielder Arthur helped the Catalans seal a 2-1 victory over Villarreal.

Despite coming out of the fixture with all three points, it wasn’t a night to remember for the Blaugrana as a first-half injury forced Lionel Messi out of the game.

While the extent of his injury remains unknown, various sources have claimed that it would be enough to force Messi to miss this weekend’s trip to Getafe.

Victory on Tuesday allowed Barcelona to put last weekend’s shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of Granada behind them, one in which the club failed to muster only two shots on goal.

On a night in which almost everything else went in the way of the home side,  Lionel Messi’s injury in the first half dampened the mood of the Barcelona faithful.

It was the 32-year-old’s first start of the season after suffering a calf injury in pre-season, though he lasted only 45 minutes before a hip injury forced Valverde to replace Messi with Ousmanne Dembele at the start of the 2nd half.

The Argentine came off the bench to feature in Barcelona’s Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund last midweek but wasn’t able to do much as the Catalans settled for a 0-0 draw.

ESPN FC are reporting that Messi will not travel with the Barcelona squad to face Getafe on Saturday, but he will undergo further tests today (Wednesday) to determine the full extent of his injury.

“Of course when Messi gets injured, everyone takes notice,” Valverde told the press after the match. “However, it does not look like a serious injury.”