Barcelona coach Luis Enrique says Lionel Messi will decide if he is fit enough to play in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarterfinal first leg tie at Athletic Bilbao.
Messi was substituted at half-time after scoring early as Barca hammered Athletic 6-0 in Sunday’s La Liga meeting between the sides.
The club’s medical staff have said that Messi had not suffered any hamstring injury, just took a knock, but the Argentine did not take part in Tuesday’s group training session and so remains a serious doubt for the game at San Mames.
The Blaugrana coach told his pregame news conference that a decision on Messi’s participation would be taken after consulting with the player on the morning of the game.
“[Messi] is fine, he has no injury, just some discomfort,” Luis Enrique said. “Tomorrow we will decide if he plays. The match squad will be announced tomorrow.
“I never like to take risks with any player. A final would be different. But that is not the case with Messi now, as he is not injured. Whether he plays will depend on how he is feeling.”
Luis Suarez looks even more unlikely to travel to the Basque Country, having been banned for two matches for his role in a tunnel incident following Barca’s 4-1 round of 16 first-leg win over Espanyol.
Even though Suarez then sat out his team’s 2-0 win in last week’s return game against Espanyol, the Catalan club have nonetheless appealed to the Spanish government’s Tribunal Administrativo del Deporte (TAD) in a bid to have the Uruguay international available for Wednesday’s game.
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