Messi's marathon 15-day world tour

Last weekend, Lionel Messi finally brought the curtain down on a gruelling 2012-13 season with a friendly against Guatemala. However, far from heading off for a well-deserved break with his family, the Argentine ace has a jam-packed schedule of friendlies, commercial commitments and charity events ahead of him.

The marathon gets underway on Saturday in Milan, where he will attend an event being run by the clothing brand he endorses, Dolce & Gabbana. It will conclude on 6th July in Chicago, where a team made up of Messi and his 'friends' will take on a world XI in a charity exhibition match.

In this 15-day period, the Argentine will travel to Senegal, Peru, Colombia and several cities across the US, clocking up more than 42,000 kilometres in total - more than the Earth's full circumference.

There will be little by way of holidays for the goalscoring wizard, who will have to report for pre-season duty in Barcelona just nine days after the end of his tour. This has led to criticism in some quarters of the blogosphere, following the fitness problems Messi suffered last season, when his hamstring injury rendered him powerless to prevent Barcelona's comprehensive Champions League semi-final defeat by Bayern. Gone are the days of the Argentine never missing a game: he is going to have to be used more sparingly next season.

Considering Messi's busy summer, it had been mooted that he could be allowed to come back for Barça's pre-season preparations a little later, but this possibility has since been ruled ou