The Argentine missed Saturday's friendly against Napoli and Friday's game against Athletic may come too soon
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde believes it is "difficult" to see Lionel Messi returning from injury for his side's La Liga opener against Athletic Bilbao on Friday.
Messi missed Barcelona's trip to the United States, where they claimed two wins over Napoli, due to a calf strain.
The forward appears set to miss his team's league opener at Bilbao, with Valverde saying it was hard to see the star returning for the clash.
"He's in the recovery process and I don't know if he will be ready for the start of La Liga," he told a news conference after a 4-0 win over Napoli in Michigan on Saturday.
"It's looking difficult."
Should Messi miss the clash against Athletic, he will look towards an August 25 match against Real Betis to potentially make his season debut.
Aryankhera3154ak
142
No problem if G.O.A.T is not playing barcelona will manage because they are fantastic team. I hope five time ballon d'or winner and six time European golden shoe winner Lionel Messi recovers as soon as possible and prove the world he is best and nobody can't be better than him. Recover soon my idol. Love u G.O.A.T
Mes5i
62
Barcelona midfielders were on fire🔥🔥, De Jong is such a talent, Alena is great too, Dembele is a beast, Suarez is in form,Lenglet and pique looking sharp, Roberto in midfield is not a bad idea, Griezmann is fitting in ,, put Messi in and Barcelona will be unstoppable💙❤️
Chayan kumar
50
I hope Messi will get well soon..No problem if he can't play the opener.. Because Barca is great team and this year the team is really strong
SINGAM23
9
it's not Messi who's Messing, it's Valverde whom caused all sort of Messed up situations at Barcelona. #ValverdeOut