In a short interchange with Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo yesterday, after his medical tests, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi responding to a question about his participation in tomorrow’s match only said, “We will advance (to the next round)”.
After being diagnosed as only suffering from a grade 1 lesion in his left thigh’s adductor muscles (lesions range from grade 1 to 3, with 1 being the slightest degree), his participation is not being ruled out.
Messi said he will do everything he can to play but insist the team is strong enough without him: “It is unfortunate that this happens now because I have always dreamt of playing these matches, but even if I don’t make it, nothing bad will happen because we are a team of winners, and we will advance as it is (without me)”.
And despite the numerous casualties suffered by Barcelona, Messi has faith in his teammates: “No matter who plays, let us not forget that we are Barca and we have a great team”.
The injury suffered by Messi is the Argentinian’s first in 19 months, and that can be attributed to the great injury-prevention regime being carried out on Barcelona players since Pep Guardiola took over the team last season. A change of diet – adding a lot of fish and suppressing meat and beverages such as Coca-Cola, muscle stretching exercises before and after every training sessions, and insisting on the inclusion of the club’s physiotherapist, Juanjo Brau whenever Messi plays for Argentina has now borne fruit.
In fact, the last time Messi was injured was on March 4, 2008, when he suffered a hamstring tear in his left thigh and was out for five weeks. In the whole of last season, playing 51 matches, the Barcelona number ‘10 ‘ did not miss a single match due to injury.
At this point, everything points to his inclusion in the squad tomorrow but as has been voiced by the club’s former head of medical services, Josep Borrell, in an interview with Catalunya’s ‘COM Radio’, “If he plays tomorrow, there is a possibility he could be out for one month,” so it is predicted that Guardiola will not take that risk.