Messi admits Spanish lockdown has been very tough

Barcelona star Lionel Messi admits the quarantine in Spain was ‘very tough’ but is confident that he is physically in good shape.

Football across the nation has been indefinitely suspended since the middle of March since the coronavirus pandemic but players returned to individualised training sessions a week ago after widespread testing for the virus was carried out.

There have been concerns that it may prove impossible to complete the 2019/20 campaign – which has 11 outstanding rounds of action across La Liga.

However, the league’s authorities have continued to insist they are confident that the fixtures can be staged over the summer months and there is hope that football can return by the middle of June.

“Physically I feel really good, I have been training at home over these months and I think it helped me to keep fit,” Messi explained, as cited by Marca. “The home confinement was very tough but being with the children and with Antonela (Messi’s wife) then you ends up having moments that you try to enjoy all together.

“This break may end up benefiting us, but we are going to see if they can restart the competitions and there we will be a lot of doubts.

“Personally I am looking forward to the return of football, even though we know that everything will be weird, without people in the stands.”

There were no positive cases for the virus in Barcelona’s squad and they return to their individualised training sessions last Friday.

However, the capital of the Catalonia region remains in Spain’s ‘Stage 0’ of lockdown and the area has a higher number of cases than most other areas in the nation.

Tags Lionel Messi
La Liga - Club News