[Nations League] Benfica has already (half) won

Leandro Barreiro, recovered, will not be on the field this evening.

Leandro Barreiro is there, but he is followed like his shadow by a very professional logic, that of the big clubs which place their own interests above everything else, including (and even above all) those of a very small nation which plays his skin and could really use all his strength. The Erpeldangeois will not play this evening against Bulgaria, but he is expected three days later against Northern Ireland, hoping that his immense contribution will still have meaning at that time and that he will not won't be too late.

They protect their investment

The midfielder, back from his hamstring injury, is counting the days just as much as his managers, the Rout Léiwen medical staff and his coach. And obviously, the mathematical logic is not the same 2,000 kilometers away. Luc Holtz has been insisting since last Thursday that his recuperator has been ready to put on the warm-up blue for a long week, that the healing and re-athleticization time has been scrupulously respected and that he would appreciate being able to use his player as normally as possible.

But it is difficult to compromise with a club which, last season, had made a capital gain of 765 million in ten years on its transfers. And who therefore monitors the smallest of his investments very scrupulously. “Leo” is one. The Lisbon club therefore asked two things from the FLF: to exempt this boy who has been losing momentum since the beginning of autumn from playing this evening and to only have him do one hour at most on Monday.

This greatly limits the management of Luc Holtz, but while his early vacation in June to prepare for his arrival in the Primeira Liga had irritated Mondercange, Barreiro has in fact become one of these players entering the very special category of those for who must be compromised. And not sure that the Grand Duchy gains from this: while waiting to see the concrete added value on its performance in the midfield, for the benefit of regular matches with one of the best clubs on the continent, it must be noted that its club has a power of nuisance that it would have been naive not to anticipate. He has already demonstrated this twice in six months.

Let’s hope that “Leo” will not become a recurring topic of conversation in 2025. And, even more, that he will not be injured again in the Rout Léiwen jersey…