Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola Confirms Lionel Messi Will Play In Beijing Guoan Friendly

Posted Friday, August 06, 2010 by Goal.com

In the wake of fielding his star for just 16 minutes in Korea, Guardiola confirmed Messi would see more time in Beijing...

Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola Confirms Lionel Messi Will Play In Beijing Guoan Friendly
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Beijing

Lionel Messi was the main attraction as Barcelona arrived in Beijing, China ahead of their pre-season friendly against local side Beijing Guoan.

Barca are currently on a pre-season tour of Asia and Blaugrana coach Pep Guardiola confirmed that the Argentine star would play more than the 16 minutes he saw against the K-League All-Stars in the Catalan outfit's friendly match yesterday in Korea.

"He will play a while, that's for sure. We will talk with him [Messi] and the physiotherapists to find out what is the amount of time he needs to play and will try to give him the maximum amount possible," Guardiola said at a press conference.

Messi, for his part, played down the controversy in Seoul that involved him initially not scheduled to play and then taking the pitch for just 16 minutes (albeit scoring twice in less than three minutes).

"For me, there is no controversy," said the Argentine. "The coach had me play and I played. I had trained earlier and the match helped me get into my rhythm. Now my goal is to accumulate minutes."

As for the passionate reception of the Blaugrana in China, of which Messi was the centre, the young superstar expressed his satisfaction at being so well received, despite looking physically tired from the hardship of travel.

"They have always treated me very well," said Messi of the Chinese people.

Barcelona will take on Beijing Guoan on August 8th and in the meantime will conduct two training sessions a day with 28 players in attendance, albeit still missing the team's group of Spanish internationals who are still on their post-World Cup summer holiday.