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By Richard Martin
BARCELONA (Reuters) – Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde is reluctant to let Luis Suarez rest even though he is aware that the Uruguayan is fighting for form thanks to the cluttered schedule of the meeting, which includes two matches against Real Madrid over the next eight days.
The Barca, leader of La Liga, has seven points ahead of Atletico Madrid, second and nine on Real, goes Saturday to Sevilla, fourth, before a consecutive meeting at Santiago Bernabeu, in the semi-final The Copa del Rey match return Wednesday before a league meeting three days later.
As in recent years, the Catalans suffered a plunge in February: they won one and won four games in all competitions of the month.
Some players, including Suarez and Lionel Messi, both go through periods of thinness, because fatigue seems to have caught up with them. While Messi scored in nine successive appearances from Dec. 16 to Feb. 2, he has scored only once since. Suarez however failed to score at all in February.
"We will have three very difficult games in seven days, so we have to think about the rotation, we know how expensive it can be to get injured at this point," Valverde said at a press conference on Friday.
But these plans do not include leaving Suarez.
Suarez, 32, was criticized after a poor performance of Barca's 0-0 draw against Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League.
Despite signs indicating that Uruguayans could benefit from another break, Valverde said it was difficult to leave the attacker aside.
"He's fine, he started on the bench last week (against Valladolid), so he's already rested, Suarez guarantees us chances in every match, it's hard to give up," he said. added Valverde.
"People always focus on the same names at times, it's curious with Luis because he's already been in the spotlight, then he came back and scored a lot of goals, we're talking about the fifth-leading scorer in history. of the club.
"You just have to be patient and persevering, what he does, and the players and I are very patient with him because he's a great player."
The Barca lost 2-0 on their last visit to Seville, in the Copa del Rey in January, but reversed the trend with a landslide 6-1 victory in the return leg.
Valverde warned of the dangers of the team of Pablo Machin, who beat Real Madrid 3-0 at home earlier this season.
"Sevilla is a formidable team on its ground, even though they are not the same team on the outside and they are suffering because of that," Valverde added.
"They got great results against the best teams and we lost last time."
(Report by Richard Martin, edited by Pritha Sarkar)
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