Lionel Messi wants Real Madrid to win "nothing" this season as he plots Barcelona league and cup double

Messi and his team-mates are in the box seat to win the Spanish championship on Saturday as they travel to lowly Granada, one point ahead of Real.

Lionel Messi has stirred the rivalry with Real Madrid ahead of this weekend’s La Liga title decider - saying nobody from Barcelona wants to see them win anything.

Messi and his team-mates are in the box seat to win the Spanish championship on Saturday as they travel to lowly Granada, one point ahead of second-place Real.

Zinedine Zidane’s men travel to 13th-placed Deportivo needing to win and hoping Barcelona slip up.

But Messi is confident Luis Enrique’s side will be celebrating on Saturday night - and then says they will become Atletico Madrid fans when Real bid to win the Champions League final in Milan on May 28.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid could yet win La Liga and the Champions League this season

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“For the people of Barcelona, it would be a pleasure to see Atletico win the Champions League,” Messi told ESPN.

"In Barcelona, supporters would prefer to see Real win nothing.

“Atletico are a very uncomfortable and difficult opponent to face, but they and Diego Simeone are there on merit.”

Barcelona play Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final on May 22 and Messi hopes it be celebrating the double.

“We have two finals now, one in the league and one in the cup,” he added.

"A league title is very difficult to win, so you have to win it and then reflect on the achievement and savour it.

"It would be great to end the year with two titles.”

Barcelona's Luis Enrique praises Lionel Messi recovery, coy over Clasico return

Lionel Messi is recovering "very well" from his knee injury according to Luis Enrique, but the Barcelona coach suggested the forward would not be rushed into making a return for the Nov. 21 Clasico with Real Madrid.

Messi, 28, was ruled out of action for seven to eight weeks on Sept. 26 after tearing the internal collateral ligament of his left knee early on in the 2-1 win against La Palmas.

Luis Enrique says that while any team would miss the Argentina international -- who scored 58 goals last season to lead Barca to the Treble -- he is pleased with how his side have coped ahead of Sunday's home match against Villarreal.

Asked how Messi's recovery was going, the coach told reporters: "Very well. Is that too short an answer? With Messi we're much stronger, no doubt about it, but we have a great team and lots of resources -- we've taken a step forward. Behind it all is some serious hard work."

On Messi's chances of featuring in the Bernabeu Clasico on Nov. 21, he said: "There's nothing worse for a player than relapse. We want him to recover properly."

Neymar and Luis Suarez have both stepped up in Messi's absence -- the Brazil captain has eight goals and five assists in the eight matches since Messi's injury, while Suarez has scored nine and made two more in that time.

Barca have gone three games without conceding after an early-season run of shipping goals in eight consecutive games -- a situation Luis Enrique is pleased with as the Blaugrana vie for top spot, with Rafa Benitez's Madrid side leading the table on goal difference after 11 games.

"We always review how other teams get at us and try to correct individual mistakes," he added. "We're in one of our better moments, we still have defensive aspects we can improve on -- every defensive situation can be improved."