Messi not ruled out of Barcelona trip to Osasuna

The biggest doubt in the Barcelona squad as of today, except for if Neymar is coming back or not, is when Leo Messi will finally be declared fit. The Argentina star has missed the first two league matches of the season as he recovers from a calf injury he picked up on his first day back at training after his holidays.

Messi misses training

Today, Monday, the forward again missed training with his team-mates, working out alone at Barça's training facilities as he has done since Saturday when he felt his right calf was bothering him again. Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde insisted that it's not a relapse, but it's clearly a step backwards, which has set off the alarm bells around the Camp Nou.

That said, nobody at the club is ruling Messi out of Saturday's Liga game against Osasuna, although the room for manoeuvre is tighter than it was last week for the Betis game. Firstly because this game is on Saturday, unlike the match against Betis on Sunday evening and secondly because there are no double training sessions this week. This Tuesday the squad have the day off, meaning Messi at best would have three days training with the team. This means it won't be until Wednesday at the earliest that the situation with the player will start to become clear. If he doesn't train with the group, the chances of him playing in Pamplona will fall dramatically.