BARCELONA: Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has returned to the La Liga leaders’ squad to play Real Betis on Sunday (today), getting the all-clear from doctors to play three weeks after breaking his arm, but forward Ousmane Dembele was left out. Messi has been training in the last week and travelled with the team to Tuesday’s Champions League game against Inter Milan but did not make the bench for the 1-1 draw. Barca’s record scorer was injured against Sevilla last month but the Catalans have fared well in his absence, beating Inter at home, thrashing Real Madrid 5-1 and defeating Rayo Vallecano in La Liga and edging Cultural Leonesa 1-0 in the Copa del Rey. Coach Ernesto Valverde did not want to declare whether Messi was fit enough to play for 90 minutes against Betis but said the Argentine was no longer worried about relapsing. “We’ll see tomorrow but he has lost the fear of falling over, of supporting himself, of clashing with opponents,” Valverde told a news conference. “That’s the main thing, because these types of injuries limit you in those aspects. He is in good shape, certainly.” Barcelona’s France defender Samuel Umtiti has also returned to the squad after over six weeks out with a knee problem. Dembele was not included in the squad, however, two days after failing to turn up for training and, according to local media, not informing the club of his whereabouts for 90 minutes. Valverde said Dembele’s exclusion from the squad was not related to him missing training, batting away repeated questions about the player’s apparent problems with discipline. Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2018.