FC Barcelona's all time top scorer Lionel Messi suffered a knee injury in a 2-1 win against Las Palmas this past Saturday. Las Palmas' defender Pedro Bigas put up a strong tackle-- clean tackle-- on the Argentinean as he attempted to shoot. Messi is expected to miss 7-8 weeks.
The 28 year old scored 58 of Barcelona's 150 goals last season and led La Liga in assist with 18.
Best case scenario Barca is without their star player for seven weeks. That would be five La Liga games and three Champions League games.
La Liga: Sevilla, Rayo Vallecano, SD Eibar, Getafe and Villareal. Real Madrid's game is in eight weeks and a day, if Messi doesn't drink his milk, he might miss that one too.
UCL: Bayer Leverkusen and two games against Bate Borisov.
Barcelona performed well without Messi in the past. But this season they're not at their best, they lost to Atletico Bilbao in the Supercopa, beat Las Palmas in a weak 2-1 score and lost to Levante 4-1.
And they conceded eight goals in seven games-- that's not blaugrana like. Goals will be needed. Yes, the Spanish champions have Neymar and Suarez. Can they step up and perform without Messi in a Barcelona team that hasn't been doing so well?
More than likely Munir el Haddadi will be the one called upon to replace the four times World Player of the Year. He had an assist against Las Palmas. Next up, a champions league game against Bayer Leverkusen for the 19 year old. Interesting.
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