Barcelona star Lionel Messi is likely to miss the remainder of the Spanish Liga season due to a lingering hamstring injury.
Tests confirmed that the Argentine international will be sidelined for up to three weeks after he aggravated the knock that has been plaguing him for the last month.
Messi picked up the hamstring injury in the first leg of Barca’s Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain in early April and has been in and out of the line-up ever since.
The 25 year old did play in the first leg against Bayern Munich but he was clearly unfit in the 4-0 setback and had to watch from the bench as his side crashed out of Europe’s most prestigious club competition after the 3-0 loss at Camp Nou in the return fixture.
Messi did feature in the 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid on Sunday but limped off after re-aggravating the injury just before the 70-minute mark.
Barcelona released a statement on its official website regarding the results of the tests today.
“Tests on Tuesday morning showed that Lionel Messi has an elongation in the femoral biceps in his right leg. The expected absence is two to three weeks.
“How the injury evolves will determine the player’s availability for future games.”
Barca has already clinched the Spanish Liga title on the weekend and have no trophies left to play for as it has been eliminated from the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
However, Messi will miss out on the chance to break the Spanish league scoring record that he set last year with 50 goals.
Lionel Messi currently has 46 strikes to his name but will not be able to add to his tally as he is set to sit out Barcelona’s last three games of the season against Real Valladolid, Espanyol and Malaga repectively.
