Luis Enrique: Lionel Messi Needs Rest

The Barca boss has revealed the main reason his star man is not part of Barcelona’s pre-season tour of the USA saying the Argentine needs rest whilst also expressing his hunger to lead Barca to winning more trophies

FC Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has said Lionel Messi is not in the United States on pre-season tour with Barcelona because he needs to rest, following a hectic season.

The star represented Argentina at the Copa America reaching the final, and has now arrived back in Europe after a charity commitment in Gabon, where he laid the first stone in a building project.

The 28-year-old featured in all 38 liga games for Barcelona last season and didn’t miss a single Uefa Champions League game for the Catalans that saw them win an historic treble.

It was a fatigue-filled season and the Argentine went on to feature for Argentina in the Copa America.

“Messi is not in the United States [on pre-season tour] because he needs holidays,” Lucho explained.

“Messi’s season is almost eternal and he needs a break.”

Barcelona come back from their summer break having picked up the treble and are gunning to complete a clean sweep in 2015 by winning the Sextuplet, but Lucho says he is not going to predict how the season will go but wants to win the three titles (Uefa Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Spanish Super Cup) left in the year 2015.

“I didn’t ask if this season is going to be quiet or not, my unique challenge is to make history. To start with, I want to win three more titles in 2015,” he said.

Barcelona begin their preseason fixtures with a game against Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday, July 22 and will kick off their official campaign with their Uefa Super Cup game against Sevilla on August 11.