Messi Sits Out Barca's ICC Campaign

Lionel Messi will miss Barcelona's pre-season tour of the United States following his World Cup exploits with Argentina.

The mercurial number 10 has been given extra time to recover from football's global showpiece, even though Argentina were knocked out on June 30.

Barca travel to the US on Tuesday for the International Champions Cup, the Spanish champions facing Tottenham, Roma and AC Milan over the next 10 days.

Ernesto Valverde will be without Messi, though, while Spain's Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets also sit out.

World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti, Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele are all still on holiday, as is Ivan Rakitic, a losing finalist in Russia with Croatia.