Lionel Messi will be out of action for three weeks after the Barcelona talisman suffered a groin injury in Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid, the Spanish champions said.
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The Argentine captain will also be absent for World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay early next month.
The Barcelona hitman was injured in his side’s 1-1 draw against Madrid outfit Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
Barca signed Paco Alcacer as their fourth-choice striker from Valencia last month and the Spain worldwide could have a more prominent role, starting with the trip to Sporting Gijon on Saturday.
Lionel Messi is out three weeks with a groin strain in his right leg, the club announced on Wednesday.
Barcelona’s treatment of Lionel Messi is “strange” according to Argentina’s national coach Edgardo Bauza.
“We should start looking for different solutions”, the Barca boss added.
“What I can tell you is that in the last game I was not too happy about the first half from the whole team, not just one or two players “But the team came together as a whole”.
And Enrique hopes his side can show similar resilience to avoid slipping further behind Real Madrid in the title race.
Messi, 29, was forced off in the 59th minute of the La Liga clash at Camp Nou and was replaced by Arda Turan, minutes after Sergio Busquets hobbled off with a knock to be replaced by Andre Gomes. What it can’t afford in Messi’s absence is some slack defending like that which cost it the Atletico goal scored by young Argentina Angel Correa – and definitely not Suarez getting sidetracked. The Catalan club has coped extremely well recently when playing without Messi, who was out for almost two months a year ago with a knee injury. Messi is expected to miss all of them.
“It is a hard injury that hurts and leaves you sad”, said Suarez. They posted an official statement and at the moment that is all we have to go on.
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“Barcelona’s people called me specially after the game against Venezuela and asked that he would return to the club as soon as possible to continue his recovery”.
