MADRID (AP) — It was a beautiful sight for soccer fans: Lionel Messi juggling a soccer ball again.
The Barcelona star hadn’t been on a training field for nearly two months, since Spain went into a lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But he and other Spanish league players returned to action on Friday with individual training sessions as their teams began preparing for soccer’s return.
The players hadn’t practiced since the confinement began on March 14. The league was suspended two days before that.
Barcelona, Sevilla and Villarreal were among the first clubs back after the Spanish government this week loosened some of the restrictions that had been in place in the hard-hit southern European nation.