Lionel Messi and medical services overseeing his recovery from injury are reportedly targeting a return to action for Barcelona by January 5.
Having suffered a torn hamstring at the weekend, the 26-year-old is facing a recovery period of between six and eight weeks, split between working in Catalonia for the rest of November before travelling out to Argentina on December 1.
Sport understand that the programme, which sees Barca and Argentine national team medics working in tandem, is targeting an initial return date of the weekend of January 4 and 5, when Barca return to action after the winter break with a League fixture at home to Elche.
Initial prognosis on the player’s recovery was that involvement in the following weekend’s trip out to Atletico Madrid was a doubt. There is also a likely Copa del Rey Last 16 clash in the midweek between the Elche and Atleti games.
Meanwhile, Messi’s brother Matias posted the above image on Twitter this afternoon of the player and his extensive trophy collection.
