Messi eyes PSG return after avoiding serious injury

Messi eyes PSG return after avoiding serious injury - Lionel Messi underwent a special session at Barcelona on Thursday as he aims to recover from his hamstring problem in time for the Catalans club's Champions League semifinal second leg at home to Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday.

Messi was withdrawn at halftime at the Parc des Princes after pulling up late in the first period, by which time he had already given Barca the lead in the first-leg match, which finished 2-2.

Thursday was a day off for the Barcelona squad, but Messi turned up for a double session with physio Juanjo Brau and is keen to play the return match versus PSG.

Messi eyes PSG return after avoiding serious injury

Tests on Wednesday revealed the problem to be less serious than the club had initially imagined, with the original prognosis estimating that the Argentine would be sidelined for around three weeks.

But Messi allayed fears as he wrote on his official Facebook page: "I will be back soon, luckily it [the injury] wasn't much."

The 25-year-old Messi will miss Saturday's match at home to Mallorca in La Liga, thereby ending his run of 19 consecutive rounds on the scoresheet. Messi has benefited from the Catalan club's calendar in that its match in Paris was played on Tuesday, with the return scheduled for Wednesday - an eight-day gap, as opposed to Real Madrid's six-day break between its two games against Galatasaray.

Adriano also has an outside chance of returning on Wednesday as well, as Barca hopes to bring back defenders to ease the current crisis, with Carles Puyol sidelined following a knee operation and Javier Mascherano stretchered off with ligament damage against PSG.
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Balotelli caught smoking on train to Fiorentina match

Balotelli caught smoking on train to Fiorentina match - AC Milan is set to fine Mario Balotelli after the striker was caught smoking in a train toilet on Saturday en route to Florence for the club's clash with Fiorentina on Sunday morning.

The striker has been hitting the headlines for all the right reasons since moving from Manchester City at the end of January and has scored seven goals in as many Serie A games; however, several reports in Italy said the club was ready to crack down on the 22-year-old after a conductor caught him red-handed smoking on the train this weekend, which is prohibited by Italian law.

Balotelli caught smoking on train to Fiorentina match

Milan vice president Adriano Galliani was also on the train and had initially been having fun during the journey, trying on a hat belonging to one of the guards and joking with members of the squad. That was until he was told of Balotelli's indiscretion by the train's most senior guard, who, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, said, "Maybe you have to pull Balotelli's ears, because he was smoking in the toilet."

As a result, Galliani informed the teenage winger M'Baye Niang, who was in the group of players he was with, to tell to his teammate that he would be fined. He then rang the player's agent Mino Raiola to report his client.

The Rossoneri squad was taking the Frecciarossa service ahead of its clash with the fourth-placed Viola with the chance to extend the gap between the top three to nine points with a win or see it crumble to three points with a loss.

Despite the incident, Balotelli was selected to lead the line from the start for Massimiliano Allegri's men.

Balotelli was regularly snapped by photographers with a cigarette in hand during his two-and-a-half year spell with Roberto Mancini's men - a pastime that is frowned upon by many coaches for obvious health reasons.

Balotelli was in the headlines more often for his mischief and disobedience than his goalscoring during his time in England, which played a part in the Premier League champions selling the striker on deadline day in January.
 

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