Madrid (AFP)

After the resumption of the Liga on Thursday, it is now Lionel Messi and the illustrious FC Barcelona who must make their comeback this Saturday evening (20:00 GMT) in Mallorca, after three months of forced cessation by the pandemic of new coronavirus.

"Clash royal": As the daily L'Equipe headlined in France this Saturday, the two behemoths of Spanish football Barça (1st, 58 pts) and Real Madrid (2nd, 56 pts) are preparing to engage in an "exciting duel distance "for the title during the eleven remaining days.

La Liga woke up from a long lethargy of three months Thursday with the Seville derby (Seville FC 2-0 victory over Betis), disputed behind closed doors. The sanitary protocol was validated by this first test in crash-test mode. Now make way for the stars!

- Messi and Suarez present -

"Finally!" Exclaimed the Catalan daily L'Esportiu on its front page this Saturday. "The leader is back," agreed the sports newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport, which predicts that Barça will line up "its gala eleven".

Despite an alert to the right quadriceps in the course of last week, the captain of Barça and sixfold Ballon d'Or Lionel Messi has done preventive work indoors and has made the trip to Mallorca, in a relegation position in 18th place .

"He is doing very well, he trained properly with the rest of his teammates, (...) I see no problem," reassured coach Quique Setién on Friday at the pre-match press conference, she also from a distance.

Ditto for his Uruguayan sidekick Luis Suarez, who took advantage of the confinement to recover from an operation to the external meniscus of the right knee on January 12, without missing too many matches, and who should therefore join Messi and the French Antoine Griezmann on the front of the blaugrana attack.

"The Luis of training seemed to me to be in great shape. He is more than ready to play. (...) It is without doubt the best N.9 in the world", rejoiced already the young Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong Wednesday, in an interview with AFP.

Apart from the French winger Ousmane Dembélé, still a little just after the relapse of his injury to the right thigh, it is with all its biggest players that Barça will make the trip to the "Visit Mallorca" stadium, in Palma in the Balearic Islands.

- "Barça before"? -

"We do not know how we will respond, if we will be Barça before, if we will be different, if we will meet a brand new Mallorca ... We are ready, very motivated and full of enthusiasm," said the blaugrana technician.

As since the return of this Liga "coronavirus formula" Thursday, players and staff will be subject to very strict health standards.

The Catalan group will make the trip to the island of Majorca in the morning and will directly stay in a hotel entirely reserved for the club. All trips (airport-hotel, hotel-stadium, etc.) will be made in two buses instead of one, to ensure effective distance. Players and staff will then have to undergo coronavirus detection tests before entering the two disinfected locker rooms intended for them.

Despite these draconian standards, the return to the lawn of Messi and others will symbolize a great relief for the whole of Spain and a first step towards a return to normalcy in a country which has deplored 242,707 cases and 27,136 coronavirus deaths, according to the latest results on Thursday.

"The absence of the public will not take away our happiness and the chance that we will come back to play. The public will be missed, but everyone is very happy to resume," reacted Zinedine Zidane, the coach du Real, this Saturday for its first post-pandemic press conference.

For "Zizou", "no pressure" however about the delay on Barça: "This is the situation, we are two points behind and we have eleven finals left. We will give everything to win this Liga".

The showdown is revived. Before finding their immense Camp Nou (99,384 places) which will be empty Tuesday against Leganés, the stars of Barça will be closely scrutinized by their Real Madrid rivals: for their return to competition after more than 90 days without a match, the men of Zidane will receive Eibar on Sunday at 5.30 p.m. GMT ... in the small Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium (6,000 seats), in the northern suburbs of Madrid, also behind closed doors.

© 2020 AFP