There’s nothing wrong with being too safe when it comes to winning a title. But when you’re leading La Liga by 10 points and don’t rest Lionel Messi against the 17th placed team in the league before FC Barcelona plays against Atletico Madrid and Manchester United the following week, you will stir some controversies.

To many FCB fans’ discontent, head coach Ernesto Valverde hinted that he will play Messi versus Villarreal on Tuesday because he wants to make sure that his side wins La Liga.

“There is never a good time to rotate a player like Leo,” Valverde said in a pre-match press conference per Goal. (To support the Spaniard coach’s statement, Messi was the only one on target last weekend in a 2-0 win over Espanyol, a match many Blaugrana fans thought their star player shouldn’t have played in.)

“I never let myself forget that our rivals are waiting for us to slip up and feed their hope of catching us. We cannot give them any chances.”

He also mentioned, “There’s pressure on us to win the title.”

Barca has nine league games left and will automatically be crowned La Liga champions if they win six of them. Five of their nine remaining opponents in the league are bottom-half clubs.

However, Valverde emphasized that he’s not taking any game lightly, mentioning that the Yellow Submarine is better than their position in the league shows and is eager to stay away from the relegation zone.

“They’re low down in the standings but they’re a team that have played good matches against the top teams in the league like Sevilla, Real Madrid, Atletico and they’re a team we genuinely have had a tough time beating.”

In fact, despite being in 17th place, Villarreal was unbeaten in four games before last weekend when they lost to Celta Vigo, 2-3, after leading them 2-0 at half.

Valverde continued: “We’re at that part of the season where there are nine games left. Every match is a must win for every team to reach their objective. For us that means winning the title again. For them because of the situation they are in, it means getting the three points to move them away from the relegation zone.”

Healthwise, the 55-year-old coach’s decision to play players in the midst of a busy schedule to make sure they win hasn’t been beneficial to the club. Valverde subbed Ousmane Dembele in a UEFA Champions League game against Olympique Lyon on March 13 after he picked up a hamstring injury five days before the game.

Barcelona had a 2-1 lead when Dembele entered the match in the 70th minute. The Frenchman re-picked up his hamstring injury.

Similar story with Messi. Valverde played the Argentine for a full 90 against Sevilla on January 30 even though the team won the match 6-1 and had games against Valencia and Real Madrid in the next seven days.

In the following game against Valencia, although Messi picked up a minor thigh injury in the middle of the match, he played another full 90. As a result, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner wasn’t fit enough to play in the team’s next outing against Madrid.

Nevertheless, looking at the scoresheet, Valverde’s choice to keep his players on the pitch even with injuries and amidst a tight schedule was productive. Dembele scored against Lyon and Messi netted a 2-2 equalizer versus Valencia.

Will Messi play and score again on Tuesday when he has two massive matches just around the corner? His coach’s press conference surely foresees that the 31-year-old will feature against Villarreal, however, even with Valverde’s history of not rotating his players, it is highly doubtful that Messi will play the whole game.