Messi absent as Barcelona players undergo COVID-19 tests at training ground

Barcelona star player and captain, Lionel Messi, was absent from Barcelona’s training ground on Sunday, August 30, as all the club’s staff and players were tested for Coronavirus.

With two weeks to the start of the new season, Lionel Messi’s absence from today’s testing and training raises the possibility he will avoid pre-season preparations with the club in order to force his way out of the club.

According to AFP, who had journalists in the training ground today, Barca’s new coach Ronald Koeman and first-team players entered through the front entrance to the Ciutat Esportiva but Messi was not among them.

Messi was due for testing at 10.15 am, but had already instructed the club through his lawyers that he would not be taking part.

According to club rules, without a coronavirus test, Messi will be unable to attend Koeman’s first pre-season training session on Monday, August 31, with the start of the new La Liga season less than two weeks away.

Messi submitted a transfer request to Barcelona last week after enduring another disappointing season with the club that saw them humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the champions league.