Barcelona may currently sit atop the competitive Spanish Primera Division table with 37 points but as the club continues to pile on the victories, recent reports indicate that the La Liga giants will have to endure the coming weeks and possibly months without the services of the best player on the planet. Already suffering multiple injuries to his legs, Barca star and four-time Ballon d'Or Award winner Lionel Messi will be sidelined six to eight weeks after suffering his third leg injury this season. Messi injured his left leg in Sunday's 4-1 win at Real Betis and will now most likely be absent right up until the La Liga season heads into its annual winter break.
Initial belief - or perhaps wishful thinking - was that the 26-year-old's injury was only a muscle problem but after careful evaluation from doctor's, Messi and the club now know that he will need a substantial time to recover. The international superstar - who helped his native Argentina qualify for the 2014 World Cup recently - has already battled back from two previous injuries, making this latest news hard for all those involved to take in. Messi missed one week after bruising a thigh in the first leg of the August Spanish Super Cup and then was shelved for three additional weeks after suffering a slight tear in his right thigh. With the club's next league match taking place at Camp Nou on November 23 against Granada, the team issued a statement confirming the severity of Messi's latest wound.
"The club's medical services confirmed after tests this Monday morning that Leo Messi has a torn hamstring muscle in his left thigh and is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks," Barca said in a statement. "The first phase of Messi's recovery will be covered in Barcelona and he will then travel to Buenos Aires. This is Messi's third injury this season. On Aug. 21 in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid, he suffered a bruised thigh which kept him out for a week and then against Almeria on Sept. 28, he suffered a small muscle tear in his right thigh which kept him on the sidelines for three weeks."
Holding a three point lead over Atletico Madrid in La Liga, Barcelona will now have to endure life without Lionel Messi in a league that features some of the best clubs in the world. In addition to attempting to fend off Atletico, Barca will also look to keep distance between themselves and Real Madrid, who only sit 6 points back in the standings. Villareal and Athletic Bilbao round out the current top 5 teams in the competitive standings.
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