it is absolute nuts for pep to put him in for the copa game. ffs what is he hoping to accomplish with that move??????????????????
"Messi had to play for three reasons. He had not trained, firstly. Messi also wanted to play and thirdly, because of the people that came to watch us," Guardiola told AS post-match. "It was a cold night, and there wasn't a better time than a Wednesday night to see the best."
"I wanted the fans to also enjoy it."
So there we go. It's sort of great that he wanted the fans to enjoy the game but I would have rather had Messi on the bench for the entire game.