BARCELONA // The Three Kings paraded through the streets of Barcelona on Sunday night, an annual procession that attracts hundreds of thousands. Children receive gifts, thrown by the kings from floats.
To coincide with the holiday, Barcelona open their doors and put on a public training session. More than 13,000 fans, most of them children, attended the open session at the mini-stadium, the 16,000-seat home of the club’s reserves.
The presence of Lionel Messi, who has been out since mid-November with a thigh muscle injury, was another gift for fans.
After a month recovering in Buenos Aires and his home city of Rosario in sunny Argentina, he returned refreshed and was at the mini-stadium, training with teammates. Messi was not fit in time to play in Sunday’s 4-0 Primera Liga win against Elche, which keeps Barcelona at joint top of the table with Atletico Madrid, but he is expected to play some part in Wednesday night’s game against Getafe.
“I see him with a killer’s look in his eyes,” manager Gerardo Martino said of Messi’s attitude in training.
Wednesday’s game is in the Copa del Rey, or King’s Cup. Not the kings of the epiphany who handed out presents on Sunday, but the King of Spain. Nor will any of the children watching Messi train be present.
A family unfriendly 10pm kick-off time (1am UAE) in the third-most important competition Barca are playing in this season is hardly inspiring supporters to attend. Barcelona have dropped ticket prices to as low at €9 (Dh45.1) and hope for a crowd of 40,000, but the return of Messi could entice a few more.
A club statement on Tuesday gave Messi medical clearance, and Martino said after a training session that Messi was fit to take the field.
“Leo feels good,” Barca’s manager said. “He has been training well and he’s ready to play now. We’re all happy that he’s back.”
Martino added that he will decide on Wednesday whether Messi will start or not. Messi scored what he considers to be his greatest individual goal against Getafe in the Copa del Rey in March 2007, when he skipped effortlessly past five men, a goal reminiscent of Diego Maradona’s sublime individual effort against England in the 1986 World Cup.
The comeback is timely. Barca play their biggest game of the season on Saturday at Atletico Madrid. The game will mark the halfway point of the league season, with both clubs on 49 points so far, having won 16, drawn one and lost one away game each.
Barca wobbled to defeats by Ajax and Athletic Bilbao soon after Messi’s injury, but they have won their last six matches, scoring 24 and conceding five. Cartagena, Elche and Celtic are not of the same standard as Atletico Madrid, but Barca put five past Getafe away in their last game before the two-week festive break.
Having Messi back will help any team, but Alexis Sanchez and Pedro have thrived in his absence. Pedro has scored seven in the last five games and Sanchez’s three scores against Elche took him to 11 league goals. Barca also have Victor Valdes and Javier Mascherano available, allowing Xavi and Daniel Alves to be rested on Wednesday.
In a poll of 4,000 fans conducted by a Catalan newspaper, the majority said that they want to see a front three of Messi, Alexis and Pedro against Atletico, which would leave no space in the starting XI for Cesc Fabregas.
Martino has the luxury of such choices, but first his side must overcome Getafe in the first leg, with next Thursday’s second leg unlikely to be Barcelona’s most important forthcoming trip to Madrid.
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