Messi scores twice as Barcelona win friendly
Lionel Messi scored twice on Wednesday as Barcelona beat second-division Girona 3-1 in a good preseason friendly.
Messi helped create Philippe Coutinho, backside from his loan in Bayern Munich, for the initial goal after 21 mins.
The Argentine scored his first after 45 minutes, spinning on the edge of the penalty area and drilling a go in off the base of the far post. He obtained his second, with a deflected shot, after 50 minutes.
He went off after one hour.
Messi only returned to training at the start of the other day after saying he wanted to leave the club.
Messi started Barcelona’s first friendly on Saturday, performing 45 a few minutes without scoring in a 3-1 victory over third-tier Gimnastica Tarragona.
Earlier on Wednesday, La Liga president Javier Tebas said he was first pleased Messi had stayed at Barcelona.
“Messi is important for our competition,” said Tebas, at a meeting to promote the Liga sticker collection. “He is a player who was born inside our competition… and hopefully he'll finish his career inside our league.”
Barcelona used 20 players in Wednesday’s game at the club’s training centre but neither Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez nor Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal appeared.
Manager Ronald Koeman said after the game he previously talked to Suarez and acknowledged Barcelona might not be in a position to sell him.
“If finally he will not locate a team and ends up staying, he'll be one more player for the squad,” said Koeman.
Barcelona are due to begin their league campaign on September 26 or 27 against Villarreal.
