According to the Daily Mail, Barcelona could be without the services of Lionel Messi for the huge Copa Del Rey clash against Arch Rivals Real Madrid after sustaining a thigh injury in the 2-2 draw against Valencia on Saturday. The Argentina international scored twice, once from the penalty spot, as the hosts came from 2-0 down to earn a point and extend their lead at the top of La Liga to six points.
Messi took his tally to 11 in the last nine matches in all competitions, passing 20 league goals for the 11th successive season. However, it was not without cost as he needed treatment for what appeared to be a dead leg shortly after equalising, and coach Ernesto Valverde does not know if he will recover in time for Wednesday’s first leg against their arch-rivals. ‘(Messi) has a small problem. I can’t say exactly what problem he has, I don’t know,’ he told a press conference after the match.
‘We will have to wait to see what medical staff say. If he’s in good shape, he’ll play on Wednesday. We will wait. I imagine it’s nothing, but we’ll wait a few hours. Leo didn’t ask me to sub him off.’ The draw ended a sequence of eight successive league victories and Valverde admits that after a slow start he did not believe his side deserved to be 2-0 down. ‘It was a very strange first part. It is true that Valencia started very well, generating a very clear opportunity, but from that moment on it was us who controlled the game, dominating the areas, creating the feeling that we could score,’ he said.
‘When we were better we got the 0-1 in a counter-attack and then a second goal was a very severe punishment’. Valencia coach Marcelino looked on the positive side despite allowing a two-goal lead to slip. ‘You can feel disappointed when you are 2-0 up and then draw but that’s not how I feel,’ he said. ‘The team had an extraordinary game and played spectacularly well but we were unlucky. We were close to winning but in the space of two minutes we went from almost being 3-1 up to drawing 2-2.’
The Club have also been handed another fitness concern after Ousmane Dembélé was diagnosed with tonsilitis, leaving the Frenchman’s involvement in the Clásico in grave doubt.
Dembélé, who is in the final stages of his recovery from an ankle sprain, was expected to return to training tomorrow as Barça prepare to take on Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals on Wednesday evening (21:00 CET).
However, Blaugrana doctors this morning prescribed the forward antiobiotics and told him to go home and rest after he reported to the club’s training ground suffering from a fever, complaining of pain in his tonsils and feeling generally unwell.
Recovery usually takes at least three or four days
Barça will wait and see how the 21-year-old’s condition progresses, but with tonsilitis usually requiring a recovery period of at least three to four days, there is little optimism that he’ll be fit to face Madrid at the Camp Nou.