Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has made another complaint about the packed football calendar, which he says is seriously harming players and will lead to more injuries.

Barca host Juventus on Tuesday in their final Champions League group game, 72 hours after losing 2-1 at Cadiz which dealt another blow to their La Liga title hopes.

Koeman has already lost three key players to long-term injuries this season and now must cope without French winger Ousmane Dembele, who strained a hamstring.

“We are killing our players with these schedules,” Koeman said on Monday.

Koeman is expected to rest many players but Lionel Messi, who missed the trips to Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros, is set to return for what would be his first match against Cristiano Ronaldo since the Portuguese left Real Madrid for Juve in 2018.

Koeman is relishing seeing the pair, who have been named World Player of the Year a combined 11 times, face off again. “I think it is not nice to say who is better, because both are incredible,” he said. “Let’s hope we can enjoy them tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Solskjaer confident Manchester United may have struggled for consistency this season but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is sure they will rise to the occasion in Tuesday’s crunch clash at Leipzig.

United have lost two of their last three Champions League games and travel to Germany knowing they will qualify for the last 16 if they avoid defeat.

“Knockout games, games like this, are big,” Solskjaer, whose side are top of Group

H but level on points with Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain, said. “They are United players because they have the qualities which we looked for.”