Barca victory tarnished as injured Messi set to miss 3 weeks

BARCELONA, Spain -- Lionel Messi is expected to be out for three weeks with a fractured right arm but his last contribution was to help send Barcelona back to the top of La Liga on Saturday.

Messi scored and then went off injured as Barca beat Sevilla 4-2 at Camp Nou, in a six-goal thriller that never looked like ending in anything other than a home win.

Any joy at jumping above in-form Sevilla, however, was tarnished by Messi's injury, which will now rule him out of next weekend's Clasico against Real Madrid.

A Barcelona club statement read: "Tests carried out on Leo Messi have confirmed that he has a fracture of the radial bone in his right arm. He will be out for approximately three weeks."

It means Messi will also miss the Champions League match at home to Inter Milan on Wednesday, and probably the return trip to Italy on November 6, as well as league games against Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in between.

"It is clear it is a blow," Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said. "We know what he gives us and we know what he does to the opposition.

"We have to prepare ourselves, it is clear we are going to notice the loss of Messi but we have players that can cover."

Messi fell to the ground following a tussle with Sevilla's Franco Vazquez and, as his right hand tried to cushion the landing, his elbow appeared to buckle.

Messi was helped off the pitch by medical staff and, despite having his right arm heavily strapped, he was finally substituted in the 26th minute.

"Emotionally, we know when he is there, he gives us more confidence because he is the best in the world," Gerard Pique said. "But it does not have to affect us."

Philippe Coutinho had opened the scoring and Luis Suarez's penalty, which he also earned, made sure of victory before a three-goal flurry in the final 11 minutes.

Pablo Sarabia and Luis Muriel twice reduced the deficit to two for Sevilla, either side of a sweeping volley from Ivan Rakitic.

Even without Messi, Barca might be confident of seeing off Madrid, whose slump had continued on Saturday with a 2-1 loss at home to Levante. Barcelona, meanwhile, seem to have sparked a rival.

Since drawing at home to Athletic Bilbao last month to make it three games without a win, they have blown Tottenham away at Wembley, taken a point away to Valencia and now eased past Sevilla, who came into the weekend top of the table.

Barca fans had chanted, "don't touch the badge" before kick-off after president Josep Maria Bartomeu had announced plans to change the club crest had been shelved.

They were soon celebrating a goal too as Coutinho bent a sumptuous right-footed shot into the far corner with only two minutes on the clock.

Messi doubled the advantage, racing clear on the counter-attack before jinking inside and curling into the bottom corner with his left foot. It was his last significant involvement.

“He did enough didn’t he?" Sevilla coach Pablo Machin said aftwerwards.

Ousmane Dembele was Messi's replacement but Suarez took on the mantle, too quick to his own heavy touch and brought down by Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik. Suarez buried the penalty.

The game seemed up but Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to make a brilliant double save to deny Sarabia and then Wissam Ben Yedder with his thigh.

Sarabia gave Sevilla hope with 11 minutes left, his shot deflecting off Clement Lenglet and in, but Rakitic took the steam out of any comeback with a well-struck volley. Muriel added what proved only to be a consolation in injury time.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Messi ruled out for three weeks with groin injury

BARCELONA - Lionel Messi will be out of action for three weeks after the Barcelona talisman suffered a groin injury in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid, the Spanish champions said.

The five-times world player of the year limped off in the second half of Barca's La Liga match at the Nou Camp, moments before the visiting side equalised.

"Leo Messi has torn the groin muscle in his right leg. He will be out of action for approximately three weeks," Barcelona officials said in a statement.

Barca's all-time top scorer will miss league fixtures at Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo as well as the Champions League group game with Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The Argentina captain is also likely to sit out his country's World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay.

If Messi's recovery goes according to plan, he will return to action for Barca against Deportivo La Coruna on Oct. 15.

"I'm not a doctor and I can't give any information here but when Messi is injured we all lose, football loses," Barca coach Luis Enrique said.

Messi was forced to miss eight weeks last season after injuring his knee but Barca won eight of the 10 games they had to play without their star man, and Luis Enrique said he was not worried about how his side would fare again without the maestro.

"Last year we also had an unfortunate situation but the team kept playing at a high level," the coach added.

"Without Messi we are much less strong but we can still be strong, we hope he improves and we're going to continue as we need to continue, playing with confidence."

Barcelona's midfield anchor Sergio Busquets was also forced off in the second half but Luis Enrique explained the Spain international was merely worn out after recently recovering from illness.

"He's fine, he had the flu and with a game like this he couldn't cope in the end. He gave everything but in the end he ran out of energy," the coach added. (Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LA LIGA: Messi out for three weeks as Atletico hold Barca

BARCELONA, Spain -- Lionel Messi will miss the next three weeks after suffering the recurrence of a groin injury as Atletico Madrid came from behind to hold Barcelona 1-1 at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Ivan Rakitic headed Barca into the lead just before half-time, but Angel Correa slotted home on the hour mark just seconds after Messi limped off to hand Atletico a deserved point.

Earlier, Real Madrid's record-equalling 16-game La Liga win streak came to an end as Villarreal drew 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid continue to lead Barca by three points at the top of the table with Atletico a further point back in fourth.

Sevilla, who beat Real Betis on Tuesday, remain in second place.

"To lose Lionel Messi means football loses and we lose," said Barca boss Luis Enrique.

"Now we have to look for other solutions. With Leo we are much stronger, but without him we are still a strong team."

Messi is set to miss Barca's next three games at Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo in La Liga and Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League, as well as Argentina's World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay.

The five-time World Player of the Year missed Argentina's last qualifier in Venezuela earlier this month due to a similar injury.

Barca's stellar front three of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar had struck 10 times in their last two games, but were kept largely quiet by Atletico's typically rock-solid defence.

Messi had the first effort on goal, but his fierce effort was comfortably handled by Jan Oblak in the Atletico goal.

The hosts had to wait until four minutes before the break to seriously threaten again when they took the lead.

Atletico momentarily switched off as a corner from the left was played short to Andres Iniesta and his cross was powered home by the late arriving Rakitic.

However, Barca's joy was short-lived, first by a double injury blow and then Correa's leveller.

Sergio Busquets was first forced off due to illness before Messi went down to the consternation of the Camp Nou.

The Argentine's replacement Arda Turan had barely taken up his position when Atletico levelled as Correa coolly slotted home after Javier Mascherano's slip offered him a clear path to goal.

Barca came closest to finding a winner in the final half hour as a fierce drive from Neymar was repelled by Oblak, whilst Jordi Alba and Rakitic fired off target.

However, in the end both settled for a point which keeps them within touch of Real.

At the Bernabeu, the European champions were looking to surpass the Liga mark of 16 wins first set by Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in 2010/11, but were made to pay for a sluggish first-half display.

"We lacked intensity in the first-half," said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

"The second-half was great from everyone, but you can't always win the three points at the end.

"We know we have to work hard and change things, above all how we start the game."

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale returned to the Madrid side that won 2-0 at Espanyol on Sunday.

However, Villarreal were the better side in the first-half and got their reward just before half-time when Sergio Ramos handled Manu Trigueros's shot and referee Jose Luis Gonzalez pointed to the spot.

Captain Bruno Soriano stepped up and coolly chipped the ball down the middle of the goal past Casilla.

Ramos made amends right at the start of the second-half when he rose highest to head home James Rodriguez's corner.

Ronaldo was then inches away from turning home Dani Carvajal's low cross and Bale curled just wide as the pressure increased from Madrid.

However, their frustration spilled over when Ronaldo earned a yellow card for kicking out at Bruno.

The off-colour Bale was then replaced by Lucas Vazquez, whilst Karim Benzema made way for Alvaro Morata in the search for a winner.

Morata's header from Vazquez's cross was brilliantly turned over by Asenjo and when Ronaldo fired straight at the Villarreal stopper in the final minute, Real's shot at history was gone.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com