13.09.2013 14:15 h

Football: Martino rests Pedro, Busquets passed fit

Soll seine Transfersumme mit Titeln aufwiegen: Gareth Bale
Soll seine Transfersumme mit Titeln aufwiegen: Gareth Bale

Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino has continued his rotation policy by leaving Pedro Rodriguez out of his squad to face Sevilla on Saturday.

Martino has already left out Lionel Messi, Neymar and Xavi Hernandez during his short spell in charge and says he will continue to distribute the workload around his squad with the demands of the Champions League also set to begin next week.

"The absence of Pedro is just to give him a rest because he has played a lot of minutes," he told a press conference on Friday.

"We must take into account minutes played with the national team. He played a very intense match against Chile, he played very well, but he played the 90 minutes.

"There are decisions that you need to take because we need the players for nine months, not just a few weeks."

Martino has however been able to name Sergio Busquets in his 20-man squad after he recovered from the thigh injury that kept him out of the Spain squad for their World Cup qualifier against Finland last week.

Xavi and Alexis Sanchez also return after being rested for Barca's last league outing against Valencia a fortnight ago and Martino is hopeful both Messi and Neymar will feature despite playing in Paraguay and the USA respectively on Tuesday.

"They have trained well, above all today. Neymar has played two games and Leo just one but they have arrived in good condition. We will see tomorrow how they are feeling and we see them from afar to see whether they are in the right condition to finish the match."

Barca begin their Champions League campaign at home to Ajax on Wednesday, but with any slip-up expected to make a huge difference in the fight for the league title with Real Madrid this season, Martino doesn't want Barca to take their eye of the ball against a struggling Sevilla side.

"The Champions League always generates a different sensation, it generates a lot of excitement. But for me the league needs special attention from game to game.

"This is one of the few leagues in the world where one looks at what the rivals are doing from the first week because from there the league begins to be decided. We need to be attentive to not give away any advantage."