In an interview (spanish) to El Mundo Deportivo, FC Barcelona’s coach Frank Rijkaard talks about Leo Messi’s recovery and the possibility of the Argentinian playing for the first time after his injury in next Sunday’s game against Racing Santander.
Everybody knows what Leo is capable of when he’s on the ball. Watching him, one may think he’s already in top form, but if you pay attention you notice that he needs two minutes to recover after every run he makes; and that’s just in training! So I want to give a warning: Leo is ready to participate and to make the difference with his playing, but we will not take any risks with him. I’m happy about Eto’o because he is back in the team and progressively picking up pace, but from a physical point of view I think right now Leo is a bit more match-ready than him. Eto’o’s injury is different from Leo’s; you have to be more careful with a knee injury because that is a key part of an athlete’s body
If they keep on working the same way and they do not suffer any relapses, they both will probably play next Sunday; I don’t know if the entire game or just some minutes