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Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde was heavily criticized following the release of Barcelona's line-up against Atletico Bilbao with Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets being surprise absentees. Valverde has explained why he benched Messi and Busquets. Valverde's response as quoted by Football Espana is: " When I make the decision, I think about what's best for my team and for my club."  "I always do that before playing games, I can't do it afterwards or rewind. "Fans can decide what they think is convenient, but I need to think about the best for my team. "It's my absolute responsibility, we have four games in 10 days [actually 11] and I thought that Leo and Busquets had to rest knowing that we have a very difficult match on Wednesday. "I knew it was a risky decision, but if it had gone well, you wouldn't be asking me about it." Both Messi and Busquets were however called up in the second half as Valverde went all in