Fresh from receiving the reward for FIFA’s Men’s Player of the Year, Lionel Messi suffered an abductor muscle injury in the first half of Barcelona’s match against Villareal.
Having recently bounced back from a calf injury, this was the first match of the season where Messi was featured in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, the Barcelona captain’s match was cut short as he was substituted at the half-time break.
After the match, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde provided an update regarding Messi’s injury situation, stating “He noticed a little bit of an issue with his adductor and we preferred for him not to stay on the pitch, but it was just a precaution. I don’t think it’s any more than just a niggle but we’ll need to wait for tomorrow to confirm.”
“When something happens to [Lionel] Messi, the world stops. Not only here at Barcelona. I don’t think it is serious. We did not want to take any risk. We will see anyway. We will see tomorrow [Wednesday]. I cannot tell you anything now. He has been injured for a long time and we do not want to take any risks at the moment.”
Despite the Barcelona captain’s match coming to a premature end, the Blaugranes were still able to overcome Villareal 2-1, momentarily putting them in 4th place on the La Liga table.
