The Argentine superstar, whose appearance earlier had been in doubt, made his pre-season debut halfway into the game and scored two quick goals, giving his team the spark it needed to notch up an impressive victory.
Earlier in the day, Spanish champions Barcelona announced Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi will not be playing the match.
“He will not play,” said Guardiola. “He has trained just once, and is not yet ready to play. To play him would be risky. He would have played if he had been in shape.”
Following pressure from the promoters, Barcelona took a u-turn. After a hastily-arranged meeting with the promoters, the Catalan club issued a statement saying that Messi would play after all.
“In the light of the good progress shown by the player in the last training session and that there will be another one before the match, the coaching staff believe that it is fine for the Argentine striker to play for a few minutes of the match,” read the statement.
The Spanish press claimed, though, that it was only because Messi was compelled to play ‘for at least half-an-hour’ under the terms of the tournament contract otherwise Barcelona would receive no money as the organisers even threatened to cancel the match.
During the friendly, Messi was brought on in the 29th minute to a loud applause from the 32,581 eager fans waiting to see the star footballer.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2010.
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