Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova has insisted that the opportunity for Lionel Messi to break Gerd Muller's scoring record over a calendar year did not influence his decision to select the striker against Benfica.
Despite Barcelona having already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, Messi came off the bench after an hour, only to suffer a knee injury with five minutes remaining.
It has since been revealed that the 25-year-old has only suffered a bruised knee, and Vilanova has insisted that Messi would still have featured during the match even if he had not been just one goal away from equalling Muller's 85-goal record.
Vilanova told reporters: "He's a player that likes to play. He's not focused on breaking the record that everyone is talking about, if that were the case he would have played against Alaves and the full 90 minutes against Benfica. Playing is part of his physical training."
"Should we sub him out every time we're leading 3-0 in case he picks up an injury?
"We've never behaved this way. I'd make the same decision seeing that he can get injured at any moment."
Messi could play in his side's match with Real Betis at the weekend.
Darren Plant
