'Recovering' Lionel Messi to miss Lyon fixture, says PSG

Lionel Messi will miss Paris St Germain's Ligue 1 trip to Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday (January 9) as he continues his recovery from COVID-19, the capital club said on Saturday, January 8.

The Argentine forward is back in Paris from his home country after testing negative but has not been cleared to play.

"Lionel Messi will continue his post-COVID individual protocol in the coming days," PSG said in a statement.

Messi back in training

@PSG_English pic.twitter.com/59HLWNoUt9 — GOAL India (@Goal_India) January 8, 2022

Messi, 34, was one of several players to return positive results during the Ligue 1 break.

PSG said that Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler, Danilo Pereira, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Layvin Kurzawa were still isolating after testing positive.

Mauricio Pochettino's side lead the standings with 46 points from 19 games, 10 ahead of second-placed Olympique de Marseille.