Lionel Messi will be on the bench when Barcelona plays at Real Madrid in the first “clasico” of the season on Saturday.
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It has been nearly two months since Messi suffered an internal collateral ligament tear in his left knee during Barça’s 2-1 victory over Las Palmas at the Nou Camp.
“I hope he can be with us – he is fundamental for the team”, said Andres Iniesta in a news conference (via ESPNFC) when asked about Messi’s readiness for the Clasico.
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. “Tomorrow we will evaluate how he is and decide what is best for him and the team”.
Given the excellent partnership of Neymar and Suarez upfront, it will be interesting to see if Luis Enrique opts to put the fit again Lionel Messi in the starting lineup against Real Madrid. In fact, the Madrid No. 7 has already drawn a blank in seven league matches this season having only failed to score in 10 league games across of the whole of the last campaign.
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“It’s obvious that he won’t be at 100 percent physically”, said Enrique, adding that a decision on whether the Argentine star will play likely won’t be made until closer to the game. “It depends how he feels”, Enrique said. “If they have to extend that to one more game, even this game, so be it”.
“I’d always dreamed of playing in a Barca-Madrid game and with my family and friends at the stadium, I scored”, he said.
Benitez likewise stated playmaker James Rodriguez was ready to play despite coming off two complete video games with Colombia.
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‘The Madrid way, of course, is to go through the gears and score as many as possible, so when Benitez drew his first friendly 0-0 with Roma (they ended up losing on penalties) he was quickly under scrutiny’.
