FC Barcelona bounced back from a disappointing midweek loss to Celta Vigo Saturday with a 2-1 home victory over Las Palmas at the Camp Nou, but it didn’t come without a price as Lionel Messi was forced to exit early with a significant injury.
Messi was lifted in the 10th minute for Munir El Haddadi after taking a knock to the knee minutes earlier on a shot attempt. He was taken to the hospital for further evaluation, according to Sport English, and it was ultimately determined that he suffered a tear in the internal collateral ligament of his left knee, which will keep him out of action between seven and eight weeks, per Barcelona’s official Twitter account.
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
Despite the loss of their star player, Barca pressed on and won behind a pair of goals from superstar striker Luis Suarez.
.@LuisSuarez9 opens the scoring for @FCBarcelona. 1-0. #LaLiga http://t.co/dNR9Qek30R
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 26, 2015
Suarez, however, gave Barca the breakthrough with a powerful header from a Sergi Roberto cross after 25 minutes and then fired into the roof of the net following a well-worked move after 54.
There is no question that Barca dominated the first half in terms of possession and scoring chances, but aside from the Uruguayan striker’s header, they were unable to beat goalkeeper Javi Varas.
Neymar blazed a penalty over the crossbar after 66 minutes and Las Palmas pulled a goal back with a deflected Jonathan Viera strike two minutes from fulltime.
Luis Enrique has been very lucky during his tenure at Barca to have a player of Messi’s caliber at his disposal, but he will truly earn his keep over the next couple months based on the way he manages his roster and strategizes.
Luis Enrique: "We played a complete game with chances to kill it off. In the end we suffered a bit" #FCBlive pic.twitter.com/8B88YpLmdV
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 26, 2015
Barca have some extremely tough matches coming up, including a Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen Tuesday.
Playing that match without Messi is far from ideal, but Barcelona still have the horses needed to thrive and play winning football.
One Comment
Cristian Bolivar
Gano el barca 2–1 felicitaciones a mi barca