Lionel Messi will again be absent for Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday’s game against Montpellier as he continues to manage a knee ailment, his club announced.

PSG claimed Messi had started running again and that the latest update would follow on Sunday, boosting hope that he will be ready to resume for the Champions League match against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Tuesday.

“Hopefully everything will be ok and he will be back with us,” coach Mauricio Pochettino stated during a press conference.

“We hope he can be there. We need to be cautious and see how things evolve in the coming days.”

Messi was pulled off in the 76th minute of last weekend’s 2-1 triumph against Lyon in Ligue 1.

It was only revealed afterward that he was suffering from a hit to a knee and he played no part in Wednesday’s 2-1 league triumph against Metz.

The Argentine has made only three appearances for his new club since joining from Barcelona in early August, and he has only played for the entire 90 minutes once, against Club Brugge in the Champions League.

With a win over Montpellier on Saturday, PSG hopes to make eight wins in a row in Ligue 1 this season, with Pochettino saying that is his primary objective rather than a rematch with Manchester City, who knocked them out of the Champions League semi-finals last season.

“The important thing is the Montpellier game, trying to win and improve in the aspects we need to improve. Manchester City doesn’t influence it,” the coach said.

“We want to keep our run of results going, although of course, it can help us prepare for the game on Tuesday.”

Marco Verratti and Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid midfielder who joined the club in the offseason, are both still on the sidelines.

(AFP)