Ernesto Valverde hopes Lionel Messi’s hamstring injury is not serious with the forward due to undergo tests on the injury when he returns from international duty on Thursday.
Valverde said the problem is ongoing and that Messi played through the pain in Barca’s game against Athletic Bilbao two weekends ago, but he’s not overly concerned.
“I’m not worried because Leo knows himself very well, but we still won’t know too much until we see him [on Thursday],” Valverde said at a book launch. “He ended the game against Athletic well. It’s true he had a small problem, but it was nothing serious. I still don’t know what we’re going to do [about the injury] but we hope that it’s nothing serious.
“We’re not going to worry about something that’s not [been confirmed]. Once he’s seen the medical team, we will decide what steps to take. But we don’t think it’s anything serious.”
Messi, along with the rest of his teammates who have been on international duty, is due back in for training on Thursday, with Barca returning to La Liga action against Sevilla on Saturday.
It’s the start of a busy period that will also see Barca face Roma over two legs in the Champions League quarterfinal and Sevilla, again, in the Copa del Rey final on April 21.
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