Ernesto Valverde has confirmed that Lionel Messi will not be fit for Barcelona’s La Liga opener.
“We’re not going to take risks with players and certainly not with him,” Valverde told a news conference ahead of his return to San Mames. He’s not trained with the team since they came back and it’s different to train in isolation. We’ll wait a little to see how his recovery goes, it’s going well I understand, but we have to wait and see.”
Speaking about the Neymar saga, Valverde chose to stay out of the controversy. “I’m outside all these matters and focusing on coaching the team, I have enough to think about ahead of the game without thinking about players from other teams,” Valverde told reporters on Thursday. ”
“We need to respect players that play for other clubs, he belongs to Paris Saint-Germain right now so no, I have nothing to comment on right now. I have a squad to consider and I think about them for tomorrow, what happens after that is a problem for the future. I’m very happy with the squad and I have no reason to talk about players in other teams. I’m the coach, my job is to adapt to the players I’ve got. At a club like this there are always mixed opinions.”
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