AFP, LONDON: Lionel Messi joined up with his Argentina team-mates on Tuesday as they trained at Manchester City ahead of their World Cup warm-up against Italy.

Messi’s side are based at the Football Academy of Premier League leaders City while they prepare for the friendly at Eastlands on Friday. The Barcelona forward arrived to start working with the rest of the squad on Tuesday and was present at a training session open to media in the afternoon.

Also present but not participating was City striker Sergio Aguero, who has been sidelined with a knee injury recently.

Another City player, defender Nicolas Otamendi, was involved along with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascherano and Marcos Rojo.

Previously, Lionel Messi delivered another masterful performance as Barcelona sailed past Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Sunday to take an 11-point lead over nearest rivals Atletico Madrid in La Liga. After putting Chelsea to the sword in the Champions League midweek, Messi scored for the sixth game in a row against Athletic at the Camp Nou to propel Barca closer to the domestic title.