Barcelona (AFP) – Lionel Messi returned to training with Barcelona on Thursday to offer the Catalans a boost with less than a week to go before their Champions League clash against Roma.

Messi missed Argentina’s two internationals over the last week due to a hamstring strain, although he did train between the 2-0 win over Italy last Friday and Tuesday’s 6-1 humiliation by Spain.

“Messi took part in a part of training with the squad,” said Barca on their Twitter account. 

The 30-year-old five-time world player of the year joined other Barca stars just back from international duty.

With Barca enjoying an 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga, where they are unbeaten all season, Messi may be rested for Saturday’s trip to Sevilla to give him more time to recover ahead of the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Roma on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde had said he was feeling “calm” with regards Messi’s potentially availability.

“He has a slight problem but we hope that it’s not serious,” he said.