Messi fit to face Malaga
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has confirmed Lionel Messi is fit to face Malaga after recovering from a hamstring injury.
The Argentina forward missed Barca's 2-1 Copa del Rey win over Athletic Bilbao in midweek having been taken off at half-time in their 6-0 league win over the same opposition last weekend.
But he is in line to feature at La Rosaleda as Barca aim to keep pace with Liga leaders Atletico Madrid, who they trail by two points.
Defender Jeremy Mathieu is also in contention to play having been unavailable for the pair of games against Bilbao due to a calf problem.
Speaking in his pre-match media conference, Luis Enrique said: "Messi and Mathieu have recovered. In principle, there won't be any problem for them to play."
Messi has been hampered by injuries this campaign having missed much of the first half of the season because of a knee injury.
He was also absent for the semi-final of the FIFA Club World Cup with renal colic but returned to score in the 3-0 win over River Plate in the final.
The 28-year-old has netted 19 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions this term.
Malaga lie 12th in the Liga table and earlier this week sold Morocco forward Nordin Amrabat to Premier League club Watford.
Nevertheless, Luis Enrique – who welcomes back Luis Suarez following his Copa del Rey suspension – is expecting a tough encounter.
"Malaga are of the teams who knows better how make us to suffer, Atletico lost there," the coach added.
"I don’t think [selling Amrabat] is going to change the strategy their coach brings to the game.
"Sure, you're talking about probably their best player who is going to be out and that's absolutely important for them
"But the general ideal of how they approach the game against us, I don't think that is going to change in any way."