Luis Enrique has reiterated his belief that Lionel Messi has been recovering well from injury, all while being unsure as to his set return. However, reports from Goal Spain suggest that Messi is losing time and will most likely not feature in El Clasíco on November 27th.
Since his injury against Las Palmas back in September, Messi has not only missed games for both club and country (most notably World Cup Qualifiers) but hasn’t even seen himself in training for FCB, stirring mixed emotions for the fans. Being ruled out for up to 8 weeks, Former head of medical services at Barcelona Jordi Ardevol told Goal Spain:
“He will only be able to be on the pitch if he takes part in some entire training sessions. We need to be careful and if he is not accomplishing the minimum [medical] requests, the best thing to do is not play because he could easily relapse on his injury.”
Luis Suárez and Neymar have stepped up in big ways to fill in the gap the masterful Argentine left in recent fixtures. With 14 goals between them, they’re becoming the strongest striker partnership in La Liga this season with both Barca forwards surpassing 4th place top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Still, Luis Enrique wants a fully-fit Messi. The Asturian coach as well as FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu, aren’t ready to let Messi play unless he’s 100% fit. With 2 weeks left until the clash at the Bernabeu, it’s becoming more unlikely Messi will make a full recovery by then.
