McKeown has missed most of the pre-season with a groin problem, a groin strain ruled Lauchlan out of Saturday’s Challenge Cup defeat at Alloa and a hamstring injury forced MacKenzie off.

Already the manager knows McKeown will not be ready for the weekend and he could give no guarantees about the other two.

“Craig has been making progress and we hope to get him back in with the rest of the squad at some stage, but he is not going to be playing this week,” said Alex.

“With Jim and Gary, it is a question of assessing the injuries and taking things from there, but this isn’t something you want just before your first league game.”

Neither was a cup defeat at a team from a lower division and Alex did not hide his disappointment at the 2-1 weekend reversal.

“On reflection, we created enough chances to win easily and that is a positive, but I was not happy with the performance. We wanted to start the season well and the aim is to go as far as possible in all the competitions, so this was a disappointment.”

His squad for this Saturday will at least be bolstered by the availability of vastly-experienced summer signings Rab Douglas and Colin Cameron. Contractual matters with their former clubs in England means their registration as Dundee players will not be completed until Friday, August 1, and that prevented them turning out at Alloa.

And while the stats of the game, a second half Messi hat-trick as Barcelona won this year’s friendly 5-1, Dixon was still able to smile.

“You don’t want to get beat 5-1, but, when you are playing against someone like him, there is not much you can do about it and you can still appreciate his ability,” said the summer signing from Dundee.

“I know I’ve never had to cope with a player as good as he is.

“He was a nightmare to try to stop, but, hopefully, it’s an experience I can have a few more times in my career because to be on the same pitch as someone like that is special.”

Although it was a friendly, Dixon even admitted that it crossed his mind a swift kick could be the answer as he tried to keep the winger quiet.

“You think about that, but, to be honest, I couldn’t get close enough to give him one. There was one time when I saw the ball in front of me and I thought I could nick it, but he got there first and, by the time I turned round, I could not even see where he was, never mind get close to him.”

Despite the final score, he believes it was a worthwhile exercise and one from which United will learn.

“It is an education playing against a team like Barcelona because they have so many world class players and just seeing the way they go about their business is a great experience.”

For boss Craig Levein, the final score was the only negative and, overall, he was encouraged by a lot of what he saw from his own team.

“We lost to Messi and because of a 15-minute spell in the second half where we lost our way a bit,” said Craig.

“Apart from that, we did a lot of good things in the game and I was pleased with a few of our performances.

“I thought Scott Robertson had an excellent first game at Tannadice, Warren Feeney made some intelligent runs and showed he’ll do a good job up front and, generally, we played some good football against a very good side.”

Another plus for Craig was that, as attention turns to Saturday’s friendly against Paul Sturrock’s Plymouth, there are no major fitness concerns.

However, Kevin James is back in training and Alan Main is improving. Morris felt his hamstring in training yesterday and could be out for a few weeks.