Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Lionel Messi happy to return to 'united' Barcelona team versus Roma

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi said it was good to be back after scoring twice in Tuesday's 6-1 Champions League Group E hammering of Roma at the Camp Nou.

In his first start following two months out with a knee injury, Messi was involved right from the start, and finished the 90 minutes with two goals, an assist, and even a booking for a sliding foul late on with the game long decided.

Luis Suarez also netted a brace, with Gerard Pique and Adriano also on the scoresheet in a thrilling performance which brought three points to secure Barca top the group, which ensures Luis Enrique's team will be seeded for the last 16 of the competition.

The Argentina international told Catalan TV after the game that he was not yet back to full match fitness, but content with how his return had gone.

"I am happy for the game, for the result, and for having played 90 minutes again," Messi said. "I am coming back bit by bit, and fortunately all is going well.

"It was tough to get going again. I prepared well and I trained. But it is not the same to train as to go out on the pitch and last the 90 minutes.

"I will be relaxed, and will get my rhythm back. I did not feel good not being out on the pitch, but I did enjoy seeing what my teammates were doing in each game."

The Blaugrana "trident" of Messi, Suarez and Neymar get most of the headlines when Barca win, but the team is really responsible, Messi said.

"But it is not just about three, it is all the team," he said. "There is a very good atmosphere, we try and be professional, we enjoy ourselves, and get on well day to day. That is the most important, that the group is united."

Messi said that Barca's three South Americans together on the 2015 Ballon D'Or podium would be great to see, but if it did not happen they would just move on and keep playing.

"I hope something like that happens, but we must not get too carried away," he said. "Knowing [Suarez and Neymar], they will think the same as me. It is not important if it does not happen, we will keep trying to do what we are doing."

Asked why he had let Neymar take a late penalty, which was missed, Messi said it was because the Brazilian had been converting them while he had been out.

"I believe he had taken four or five, and not missed any, so that is why he took it again," he said.

Barca were going well, Messi said, but it was early yet to talk about repeating last season's treble success.

"We are at a very good level, but there is still a long way to go until the decisive time of the season in La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, which is getting going now," he said.

"We are not yet in December. We must think in the short-term, on what is coming, the La Liga games before the World Club Cup, and nothing else."

^ Back to Top ^