Messi ends vacation early to join Barcelona for preseason training
Lionel Messi is set to put his Copa America nightmare behind him and rejoin his Barcelona teammates ahead of their preseason tour.
The Catalan club confirmed Saturday that Messi has ended his vacation prematurely, and will fly to England for training Monday. Barcelona will hold several sessions at the St George's Park facility in Staffordshire next week before leaving for Saturday's friendly against Celtic in Dublin.
Barcelona is then due to face Leicester City on Aug. 3 in Stockholm, and Liverpool three days later at Wembley.
Barcelona had granted Messi an extended break until Aug. 1, but he has apparently made the decision to get back to work early. Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, and Javier Mascherano are among the stars who won't participate in the training camp in England.
Neymar is busy preparing for the 2016 Rio Olympics with Brazil's national team.
Instead, 12 reserves have filled out the rest of the 25-man squad.
Messi hasn't played a match since missing a penalty for Argentina in the final of the Copa America Centenario. He famously announced he would step away from the national team, with international teammate Sergio Aguero describing Messi's state after the shootout loss to Chile as the "worst I've ever seen him."
It's still unclear whether the 29-year-old will stay true to his words and indeed retire from Argentina duty.
His future with Barcelona also fell under a cloud of speculation after he and his father Jorge were found guilty of three counts of tax fraud by a Spanish court. They were handed a suspended 21-month jail sentence, although neither are expected to spend a day behind bars.
Messi's management later announced that he would appeal the ruling.
La Liga president Javier Tebas expressed fears that the five-time World Player of the Year could leave Spain as a result of the tax case, but Messi's inclusion in preseason activities will settle those anxieties for now.
Barcelona's call-ups for training: Masip, Arda, Suarez, Messi, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Aleix Vidal, Mathieu, Denis, Montoya, Tello, Samper, Jose Suarez, Josep Martinez, Marlon, Martinez, Borja, Carbonell, Gumbau, Alena, Nili, Alfaro, Camara, Mujica