As for now it seems its very clear that the game on Friday against Athletic Bilbao will be missed by the captain of Barcelona known as Messi, because the first game of there LaLiga title defence, he is absent in the Barcelona squad.
So the game on Friday at Athletic Bilbao which is to open this 2019-2020 season for Barcelona will be in the absent of Lionel Messi.
Messi has not only been absent from open section of Barcelona's training session on Thursday but also couldn't featured during the pre-season due to his calf injury.
The former Athletic head coach Valverde had already said something before, that Messi will not be able to take his place in the squad, he said this even before the workout. He said he is not going to take risk with his player especially not with Messi. Messi has not been training with his team since they came back and also he can't even train in isolation but his recovery is going on well.
Funny part is that Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic are also travelling with the squad despite the fact that they might leave Barca soon as a sign deal with Paris Saint-Germain for the potential return of dear Neymar.
Finally, Antoine Griezmann is also in line to make his league debut for Barcelona after joining from Atletico Madrid. Not only him alone, also with fellow new arrivals Frenkie de Jong and also Junior Firpo, but the midfielder known as Arthur misses out.