ARGENTINA: Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi returns to Argentina to recover from a leg injury and hopes to be fit before the World Cup.

Record ID: 447933

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi returns to Argentina to recover from a leg injury and hopes to be fit before the World Cup.
  • Date: 19th April 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP: AFA LOGO
  • Embargoed: 4th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5LPGQ1RVGAT0WAB5ITXUE5JNN
  • Story Text: Young Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi returned to Buenos Aires on Tuesday (April 18) where he is recovering from an injury he suffered while playing for Barcelona.
    The rising star of Argentine soccer tore a muscle in his right leg on March 7, during a game against English champions Chelsea and was missing Tuesday's Champions League first leg semfinial between Barcelona and Milan in Italy.
    He arrived in Buenos Aires to continue his recovery programme, but said he was working hard to be able to return as quickly as possible.
    "I want to be in shape to try to get to the last few Barcelona games and obviously on the Argentine team if it falls to me to be there after," he said.
    Messi, who hails from the city of Rosario some 240 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, said he was so anxious to play again that he was putting a lot of pressure on himself.
    "I felt very well, and the anxiousness of wanting to play, of wanting to be with the group maybe made me pressure myself a little. But let me tell you, it was being there all day with the team training separately, that it got to the stage that I was tired of it and I wanted to start," he told reporters.
    The Barcelona player, who at just 18 has already captured the world's attention, speculated on his country's chances in the World Cup in Germany.
    "Argentina has a great team and a great group, and it wants to do important things as I have been saying for some time. I have a lot of faith in the team, and I hope that it gets to the top," he said.
    Messi had his official professional debut with Barcelona in 2004. He became the youngest ever player in the club's history to score a goal in a league match on May 1, 2005, when he was still only seventeen. All eyes will be on this new Argentine star and his all important World Cup performance as the team heads to Germany.
    Argentina's first match will be against the Ivory Coast on June 10.
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