Barcelona ace Leo Messi has defended Luis Suarez after he missed their Copa del Rey final defeat to Valencia.
Suarez was criticised for undergoing surgery instead of playing the game.
But Messi told Fox Sports: "People criticised Suarez recently, saying that he went for surgery as he'd prefer to play in the Copa America than in the Copa del Rey final, but the reality is that he has had knee pain for a long time and that there was a moment after the Liverpool game when he couldn't play on anymore because it had gotten worse.
"So the only thing he could do was to have the operation, he didn't chose to."