Barcelona failed to capitalise on Real Madrid dropping points against Villarreal as the La Liga champions were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, while talisman Lionel Messi limped off with a groin injury.
Advertisement
The striker went off on 59 minutes on Wednesday after a Diego Godin tackle.
It took until the 15th minute for Barcelona to register a proper attempt on target and that came from Lionel Messi, whose powerful strike from the edge of the box was saved by Oblak.
Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (R) leaves the pitch with the team’s doctor after being injured during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Atletico de Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona.
That would place him right in between Argentina’s game against Paraguay and Barcelona’s home clash against Deportivo.
A statement on Barcelona’s website said the Argentina worldwide would miss the league games against Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo and the Champions League clash against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Barca coped remarkably well with 8 wins from 10 games when Messi was sidelined by a hamstring injury for two months last season.
Messi sustained a groin problem during global duty with Argentina and only played 30 minutes as a second-half substitute during the shock 2-1 loss to Alaves on September 10, as Luis Enrique attempted to give him some extra rest.
“I don’t know what’s up with Messi, we’ll have to see”, he said to Movistar + after the match.
Madrid continue to lead Barca by three points at the top of the table with Atletico a further point back in fourth.
Ivan Rakitic gave Barca the lead four minutes before half-time against Atletico, but Angel Correa levelled for the visitors just past the hour-mark. We attacked really well and they defended amazingly.
Enrique said Atletico had been a tough nut for his side to crack.
“We deserved to win based on our approach and how we played”.
Despite dumping Barca out of the Champions League twice in the past three years, Atletico haven’t won at the Camp Nou since Torres scored twice in a 3-1 victory during his first stint at the club in 2006.
Advertisement
Barcelona struggled for chances in a predictably tense first half, the first opportunity falling to Messi, who forced a decent save out of Jan Oblak from just outside the area.
