Messi doubtful for Villarreal

Messi missed Argentina’s friendly with Costa Rica on Tuesday after pulling up with pain in the adductor muscle of his right leg during the warm-up in San Jose.

Argentina’s medical and coaching staff did not want to take a chance with Messi, who is set for a pivotal month of April with Barcelona.

The leaders face Villareal on Saturday then have two Champions League quarter-final legs against Shakhtar Donetsk as well as a double ‘Clasico’ against Real Madrid – in the league and final

The highest earning players/managers in football today

The 10 highest-earning footballers

  1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – £26.9 million
  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – £23.9m
  3. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) – £18m
  4. Kaka (Real Madrid) – £16.7m
  5. David Beckham (LA Galaxy) – £16.5m
  6. Ronaldinho (Flamengo) – £15.9m
  7. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) – £13.4
  8. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) – £12.3m
  9. Yaya Toure (Manchester City) – £11.9m
  10. Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls) – £11.5m

The five highest-earning managers

  1. Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid) – £11.7m
  2. Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) – £9.1m
  3. Rafael Benitez (ex-Inter Milan) – £8.8m
  4. Fabio Capello (England) – £7.4m
  5. Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) – £6m