Messi is the top scorer in the history of El Clasico, with 21 career goals against Real Madrid, including 14 in La Liga play.
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Speaking to the media ahead of his side’s much anticipated clash against Real Madrid, Luis Enrique revealed that Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has returned to full training and is fit to play in the first Clasico of the season.
“I always expect the best from my players, all of them in the team”.
“Let’s hope he can play, whether that’s from the start or not, because he’s an essential player for us”, Iniesta said on his club’s official website.
Messi has been out for Barcelona since tearing a knee ligament at the end of September and he was expected to miss around eight weeks.
“I’ll talk today with him, tomorrow, and it’ll be decided an hour before the game”, the coach said. “Nobody knows better than the player himself exactly how he is feeling”.
Luis Enrique’s team have been in top form of late, and have found the net 19 times in their past seven matches, with Luis Suarez and Neymar scoring the bulk of those goals.
“We have to play a game which is practically ideal, as they can cause us damage too”.
Enrique, who masterminded the side to the treble last season, refused to be drawn on whether or not Messi would start the game, stating that nothing was set in stone yet.
However, Benitez is confident his star striker will be able to feature at a few point, telling a news conference: “Benzema is in the squad for Saturday’s match”.
Barcelona now lead the way from their great rivals with Real’s surprise 3-2 loss to Sevilla last time out putting them three points behind. Out of 170 matchups between Real and Barcelona over the past 86 years, Real has won 71 times, with Barcelona claiming 67 victories. “It depends how he feels”, Enrique said.
“I’m certain you’ll see an attacking game from both teams and it makes sense that the team that scores a lot of goals will win”.
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“Without the players behind us though we would be nothing and we wouldn’t achieve anything”.
