When do Barcelona start La Liga season and will Messi play for them?

BetOdds Barcelona Lionel Messi Primera División

After a summer of uncertainty regarding Lionel Messi's future at Camp Nou, could he feature for the side once La Liga is underway?

Most of Europe's major leagues have gotten the 2020-21 season underway, with the likes of the Premier League and Bundesliga resuming in September.

The Spanish top flight is due to start a little later than the rest of Europe's domestic leagues, and Goal has all the information you need to know about when Barcelona will begin their campaign - and whether or not Lionel Messi will feature.

Barcelona will kick off their La Liga campaign at home to Villarreal on Sunday September 27.

The match will be played at 8pm BST (3pm ET).

Messi shook the football world to its core after he informed Barcelona that he wished to leave in the summer ahead of his contract expiring in 2021.

The Argentine's decision came during a time of extreme difficulty at the club, exacerbated by their recent 8-2 humiliation to Bayern in the Champions League.

His relationship with club president Josep Bartomeu had also been deteriorating.

In an exclusive interview with Goal, however, Messi then stated that he intended on remaining at Barcelona for at least another year after he revealed that he did not wish to take his club to court – which was the only way he would be able to opt out of his contract.

After pledging his short-term future to the Catalan side, Messi is expected to feature in Barcelona's inaugural La Liga game of the season - having participated in the side's pre-season games and netting twice in a pre-season friendly against Girona in mid-September.

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not,” he said in the interview.

“Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”

2020-09-22 23:00:04

Comments

Send Your Comment

Download Application