Lionel Messi Admits He's Not 100% After Returning From Injury

Without Messi at full strength, Barcelona has wobbled through the start of the season.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has confessed he still feels out of rhythm after making his long-awaited return from injury.

The Argentine battled a foot injury which kept him out of preseason and also forced him to miss the start of the current campaign, but has recently made two substitute appearances for La Blaugrana.

Speaking after picking up The Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year award on Monday (via Marca), Messi confessed he is still lacking the sharpness needed to get back to his best.

He said: "I have been out of action for two months and I notice this. I feel fatigued and heavy, lacking rhythm. They spoke to me about the seriousness of the injury."

With Messi out of the side, Barcelona have endured a challenging start to the campaign. They have won just two of their six games in all competitions, but Messi insisted he remains confident Barcelona will find their footing soon.

"We've started badly and are struggling to create plays and chances. It's just the start, but we have to respond now," Messi added.

"There's no more time and we have to improve a lot, we're aware of this. It's a team thing. I have no doubts that we'll improve."

Finally, he discussed 16-year-old wonderkid Ansu Fati. The young forward was promoted to the first team to help cope with Messi's injury, and has responded by netting two goals in his four La Liga appearances this season.

He added: "I was impressed by him the first day I saw him train. Then he was playing with us, he has great quality. We need to go little by little with him and not put pressure on him.

"We must help him and go slowly so that the buzz around him doesn't prevent him from growing, as he has what it takes to be a great player."