‘We are very ambitious’

Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets (third from left) during a training session yesterday. Pic/AFP

Sergio Busquets said on Monday he was still in a state of shock after Lionel Messi's departure as Barcelona prepare to start their first Champions League without the Argentine since 2003.

Barca face Bayern Munich at Camp Nou in Group E on Tuesday and will begin the competition as outsiders following a traumatic summer transfer window. Facing debts of more than a billion euros, the club let go 11 players, including Messi, who joined PSG after being told his contract could not be renewed.

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Lionel Messi

‘State of shock'

"I felt like everyone else, I was in a state of shock, because of what Leo means for Barca and what he means personally to me and our families," Busquets said. "I had emotions that were difficult to manage. But these are hard decisions that are not up to us and now we have to change the mindset."

Busquets said Barcelona are beginning a new era without Messi and pointed to Chelsea's surprise success last season as evidence of what is possible in the Champions League. "We are very ambitious," said Busquets, 33. He also leant his support to Barcelona coach Ronaldo Koeman, whose future has again come under scrutiny after comments he made in the media last week.

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Koeman said a lack of clarity over his future was not pleasant and accused the club's president Joan Laporta of speaking too much for suggesting the coach doesn't have all the power.

Koeman happy

Asked on Monday about his relationship with Laporta, Koeman said: "My relationship with the president is good. If there are things to talk about, we talk about them." Barcelona take on Bayern for the first time since their humiliating 8-2 defeat in August 2020, after which Gerard Pique said the club needed changes from top to bottom.

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