Lionel Messi will play no part in Barcelona's La Liga opener on Friday at Athletic Bilbao, missing the match due to a calf injury. After the club announced that he would miss the team's USA tour matches against Napoli in early August with a Grade 1 calf strain, he was not included on the team's squad list for the visit to San Mames to take on Athletic. The match kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on Friday -- stream via fuboTV (Try for free).

It's not all that surprising that he's sitting this one out. Ernesto Valverde should take a cautious approach with his most important player in what is a make-or-break season for the Spanish manager. And it's not like Barca can't get a result without him. The expected front three will likely be Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and probably Ousmane Dembele. Barcelona enters this match as a  strong favorite at -145, according to Westgate. Messi isn't expected to miss significant time, though the club has not given a specific timetable for his return. 

"We are not going to take risks and less so with Leo. He hasn't trained yet with the team and doing recovery work is not the same as working with the team. We will wait, but he is following a fairly good recovery process," Valverde said.

Messi hasn't played in any of Barca's preseason matches, but not all due to injury. His participation at the Copa America this summer with Argentina saw him join up with the squad late in preseason. His last match for Barca was on May 25 against Valencia in the Copa del Rey final, which Barca lost 2-1.