Lionel Messi has sustained a left MCL injury, and is likely to be out for nearly two months.
Lionel Messi out 7-8 weeks with knee injury
Barcelona might be without Lionel Messi at full strength for El Clásico.
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Messi has a tear in the internal collateral ligament of his left knee. He will be out for around 7-8 weeks pic.twitter.com/TLor97gmou
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 26, 2015 Messi was substituted in the first half of Barca’s La Liga match against Las Palmas on Saturday, and he walked straight down the tunnel. He later went to a hospital where the diagnosis was made.
Before the match, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique was asked about rotating his team "That's what I should do," he said. "And according to the result it will be interpreted one way or another. If I rotate and we lose it'll be a massive cock-up." But he didn't rotate his front line -- he kept all of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in his team, and his superstar got hurt.
Barcelona will take on Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, then go away to Sevilla the following Saturday. Those are two big games for Messi to miss. He'll miss the next two Champions League matches against BATE as well, then be in a race to get healthy in time for one of the biggest weeks of Barcelona's season. They face Real Madrid in El Clásico on November 22, then take on Roma in Champions League just two days later.
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