Football
Associated Press 8y

Barcelona's Lionel Messi not yet out of Club World Cup final

YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Barcelona are not ruling Lionel Messi out of Sunday's Club World Cup final, despite the Argentine being diagnosed with a stomach complaint before Thursday's semifinal.

Messi missed Friday's training, and was absent for the club's 3-0 semifinal win over China's Guangzhou Evergrande with renal colic.

"All the situations are open. What the manager [Luis Enrique] said is that we have to evaluate, hour after hour, how he is feeling," Barcelona media officer Chemi Teres said. "I don't know if it is renal colic or kidney stones, or something else in this area."

Messi's teammate Javier Mascherano said of Messi to AS, as quoted by Football Espana: "I've spoken to him and he's better. He wanted to play but the pain was unbearable.

"I think he'll be there on Sunday. He'll make every effort to play the final."

Neymar's prospects of playing in the final against Argentine side River Plate appear to be improving.

The Brazil striker sat out Barcelona's training on Monday and Tuesday, before doing some workouts in front of media at the start of Wednesday's session.

Neymar's was a substitute in the semifinal, but stepped up his training routine on Friday, running the perimeter of the pitch with a coach, then doing some dribbling drills and sprinting with the ball, isolated from the other players.

Dani Alves missed Friday's practice with a bruised foot, but is expected to be fit for Sunday's match.

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