Lionel Messi, back on the pitch after roughly two months after a torn internal collateral ligament injury, showed no signs of rust as he played 90 minutes in Barcelona’s game in the Champions League.
Messi, who was a part of the starting XI, helped in dumping Roma 6-1. The 28-year-old Argentine gave a hand to Luis Suarez in his dominating comeback.
The victory gave Barca the assurance to go through the last 16 in first place in Group E with 13 points from five games. They are eight points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, Roma with Bate Borisov with just four.
The Barca captain felt strong on his comeback. He even urged his teammates to maintain their level of performance after defeating Roma.
Messi’s goals were his first in the Champions League in their current campaign (this is only his second appearance). It was also the 78th and 79th in competition history, a close second to Cristiano Ronaldo’s 83.
“It felt good to play the 90 minutes.” Messi said.
“Little by little, I am feeling better. I am happy with the result and to have played 90 minutes. We are happy with how things are going but there is still a long way to go. We will try to keep our level up. I am really happy for all the praise I get, but I just want to keep helping the team and hopefully, we can reach our objectives at the end of this season.”
It’s been two months since his injury, and since their victory over Las Palmas. He showed aggressiveness and eagerness to take on the field anew.
Barcelona will be back in action on Saturday when they play Real Sociedad in a home game.
Coach Luis Enrique sees that his team is very focused and motivated now that they are in full force again with the return of Messi.
“We are in a sweet moment and we hope to keep it going as long as possible.” He said.
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