Lionel Messi out for 3 weeks as Barcelona draw with Atletico Madrid

Arda Turan was readied and entered the game in Messi’s place, and Angel Correa grabbed Atletico’s equaliser nearly immediately. The home crowd couldn’t sink in enough with Messi’s injury, when Diego Godin’s header was superbly pushed over the bar by Ter Stegen in the dying minutes of the game. “To us, that seems unusual because three weeks is not enough time to fix a torn adductor”, Bauza said, again via the Mirror.

Luis Enrique defended Barcelona’s treatment of players after Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza appeared to question their handling of Lionel Messi’s injury.

After straining his groin in Barcelona’s 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, Lionel Messi is facing three weeks on the sidelines, and his manager at global level is not happy. “We did have something similar past year, even longer than now, and the team played at a good level”.

Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi sits on the ground (left) before leaving the pitch during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Atletico de Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Thursday.

Messi had earlier missed global duty soon after his return to the national squad with the same injury.

“We were the much better side in the second half but you can’t always win every game in the last minute”, said Real Manager Zinedine Zidane.

“Last year we had an unfortunate situation with a longer-term injury and my team played well”.

“To lose Messi means that football loses”, Enrique said after the draw.

“We haven’t yet been able to speak with him, but we want to know how serious the injury is”, he further added.

“We had a good first half, without creating many chances”.

The setback has ruled the Barca star out of Argentina’s upcoming South American World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay. “When these things happen we all have to give a little bit more. We must wait until they arrive to see who is in better shape”.