Van Dijk recently returned to action during pre-season after spending nine months on the sidelines with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury sustained in the Merseyside derby in October.

Speaking at Friday's news conference ahead of the league fixture after Messi joined PSG from Barcelona earlier this week, Pochettino added his first task was to make sure a star-studded outfit began to look the sum of its parts.

The 34-year-old Argentinian forward signed a two-year deal Tuesday with Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1 with an option for a third year. Financial terms were not announced, but The New York Times reported Messi will earn $41 million per year.

The contrast was dramatic after a Tokyo Games played out in mostly empty stadia and under strict COVID-19 protocols.

The Argentine superstar said his next move is not confirmed, but ESPN reports that he'll join Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal with an option for a third season.

The ceremony, although lusterless, gave athletes something of a glimpse of everyday Tokyo life as the Olympic Stadium was transformed into a park with grass, buskers and BMX riders.

The focus immediately shifts to Beijing as the curtain falls on the Tokyo Olympics, with a growing coronavirus outbreak in China and boycott calls looming large just six months from the start of the Winter Games.

There was no immediate comment from either club.

Messi will speak at 1000 GMT after Barcelona said on Thursday the 34-year-old will leave the club, despite both parties having reached an agreement over a new contract, citing economic and structural obstacles to the renewal of the deal.

For the host nation, the Olympics fell short of the global triumph and financial blockbuster it once sought. Still, organisers appear to have prevented the Games from spiralling into a COVID-19 superspreader event, a remarkable achievement given that some 50,000 people came together amid the pandemic.

An April consolation prize of a Spanish Cup success -- his 35th club trophy -- was scant reward.

The Americans were 24-18 behind after the first quarter and 42-45 adrift at half-way, but stormed back during a dominant third term to stay on track for a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Apriyani Rahayu, 23, and her veteran partner Greysia Polii picked up the badminton-mad country's first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo on Monday, and its first-ever Olympic medal in the women's doubles.

The world No. 6 women's doubles badminton pair managed to beat second seed Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China in a fierce straight set battle.

In the gold medal match, Canada will face the winner of the other semi-final between Australia and Sweden which is being played later on Monday.

The 33-year-old veteran and partner Apriyani Rahayu beat China's Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 21-19, 21-15 to pick up their country's first Olympic medal in women's doubles.

Punishing conditions greeted the athletes as a trackside thermometer in the open, placed about 50 metres from the finish line, touched 40 degrees Celsius (104°F) and the humidity hovered around 60 percent, with sun beating down on the fan-free Olympic Stadium.

Polii, 33, and Apryani Rahayu, 10 years her junior, beat South Korea's Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan 21-19, 21-17 on Saturday to move within one win of an unlikely women's doubles gold medal.

"Simone has withdrawn from the event final for floor and will make a decision on beam later this week. Either way, we're all behind you, Simone," USAG tweeted.

Lee and Wang's campaign in Tokyo got off to the worst possible start, losing their first match, before narrowly scraping out of the group stage.

Hendra/Ahsan, Greysia/Apriyandi advance, ‘Minions’, Jonatan suffer shock losses

The US superstar, 24, blamed "the twisties" for her dramatic exit from the team event at the Tokyo Games, where she was aiming to equal or even surpass the all-time women's gymnastics record of nine Olympic golds.

After her stunning exit from the women's gymnastics team event on Tuesday, Simone Biles said she felt she had been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. That burden seems to have been exacerbated by a year a grief, loss and restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rahmat, who was only selected to represent Asia along with China, Japan, and South Korea in the Tokyo Olympics last month, told Reuters that the lift was “easy.”

"After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health," USA Gymnastics said in a statement.

Last week Medvedev was the first to appeal for a delayed start for tennis at the Tokyo Olympics due to the hot and humid weather conditions and also received support from world number one Novak Djokovic.

The superstar American gymnast Biles on Tuesday stunned the Tokyo Olympics when she pulled out of the women's team final, saying: "I have to do what's right for me and focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and my wellbeing."