Hope Lionel Messi can play towards Manchester City: Mauricio Pochettino

Lionel Messi has been dominated out of Paris St Germain’s match towards Montpellier as he has not absolutely recovered from a bone bruising damage, however supervisor Mauricio Pochettino hopes he returns for his or her midweek match towards Manchester City.
Messi suffered a knock on his left knee and an MRI scan earlier this week confirmed indicators of a bone contusion. He missed PSG’s 2-1 victory at Metz on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old Argentine ahead, who joined the French membership from Barcelona on a two-year contract in August, will likely be assessed once more on Sunday – forward of the Champions League house sport towards City on Tuesday.
“Messi has started to run today… We are going to assess him and we hope he improves,” Pochettino informed reporters on Friday.
“On Sunday, we will be able to give a positive update. We hope everything goes well and he will be available again… Yes, we hope he can play (against City). We have to be cautious.”
Pochettino mentioned the City match is not going to have an effect on his choice on Saturday, with Angel Di Maria anticipated to play the league sport as he stays suspended within the Champions League after his pink card in final season’s semis towards the Premier League facet.
“We will see, there are different options and different systems. We will see who gives the team the right balance. We also have the flexibility to change as we go,” Pochettino added.
“Mauro Icardi is a player who contributed a lot up until his injury. He then recovered and has made a big impact. Of course, he offers us an alternative in our attack.”
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti will return to coaching on Sunday whereas defender Sergio Ramos, who has but to make his membership debut, continues to coach individually as he recovers from a calf damage.
Montpellier misplaced their two principal aim scorers from final season – Andy Delort and Gaetan Laborde – within the switch window however Pochettino mentioned he was nonetheless cautious of the facet who’ve already scored 15 league objectives, second behind PSG’s 20.
“They work very hard and we’ve seen that in our preparations,” Pochettino mentioned. “They have high quality gamers and it’s not simply their quick transitions, they will additionally develop their play and they’re affected person of their buildup.
“They are a team that plays attractive football. We’re expecting them to make it difficult for us.”
PSG are high of the Ligue 1 standings with an ideal win document from seven video games whereas Montpellier are tenth.