FC Barcelona are certainly on a high after their massive 4-0 win over Real Madrid on Saturday night, and they would be even more buoyed up to hear the fact that their talisman Lionel Messi has “recovered” from his hamstring injury, says coach Luis Enrique.
The Argentine star came off the bench on Saturday night’s El Clasico, and looked to be in good shape for the 30-odd minutes that he played against Real Madrid.
Messi had been laid off for a couple of months due to a hamstring injury, but his fellow south American forwards Neymar and Luis Suarez had taken up the mantle in his absence, already taking the Blaugarana to the top of the La Liga table.
FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said on Monday, ahead of his side’s Champions League Group E clash against AS Roma, that Messi has recovered from his hamstring injury.
“Messi is recovered, yeah, he is fit. Hea s back with the team,” said Enrique to Spanish news portal Sport. “Hea s been training, now playing, too, but we need to give him time to recover his match fitness again.”
Enrique also said that in spite of recovering from the injury, the star man was yet to get back to full fitness, and that more game-time would certainly help with that.
“He needs to get his level back, which he will do by playing games. Hea s no different to any player returning from two months out,” said Enrique.
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Barca call-up young guns ahead of Roma clash
Defender Javier Mascherano hobbled-off in FC Barcelona’s match against Real Madrid, and Luis Enrique might be left a little light in defence.
This is why the Barca coach has called up Sergi Samper from the Barcelona B team to the first team’s training session at the Tito Villanova training grounds, according to Sport.
Samper though, is traditionally a holding midfielder, and it would be interesting to how Enrique utilises the 20-year-old. Interestingly, Mascherano, who he is expected to replace, was also a holding midfielder earlier in his career. In fact, he still plays that position for the Argentina national side.