How will Messi Injury Affect Barca in the El Clasico

Barcelona will host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on Wednesday for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi final most likely without their star Lionel Messi due to a minor leg injury in Saturday’s LaLiga draw with Valencia.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde would not be drawn on whether the Argentine would be risked but he was included in the squad. How would Barca’s game be affected without their talisman?

Messi has scored in nine straight games in all competitions, and is the league leading scorer with 21 in 22 matches.

In the match against Valencia, the Spanish giants needed the brilliance of Messi, who netted a brace, to rescue a point for them as they came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou.

The draw came with a painful cost as the club’s talisman sustained a thigh injury in the 70th minute.

He returned to the pitch minutes later, but looked to be in some discomfort.

“I can’t say exactly what problem he has, I don’t know,” Valverde was quoted by Marca. “We will wait. I imagine it’s nothing, but we’ll wait a few hours. If he’s fit, he’ll play. Leo didn’t ask me to sub him off”.

Barcelona hope that their main player will be ready to face their fiercest rivals. The star missed Barcelona’s 5-1 league rout of Madrid in October because of a broken right arm.

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“The most important thing is for the player to tell you that he is ready,” coach Ernesto Valverde said. “Regardless of what the tests show and what the doctors say, if the player doesn’t feel he is ready, you can’t let him play.”

Valverde said hat the team’s tactics will not change if Messi is absent.

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“I don’t think it (Messi playing or not) changes which team will be considered the favorite,” the Spanish coach was quoted by The Washington Post. “I don’t think there is a favorite in a semifinal between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Barcelona, whilst dependent on the Argentine, have shown they are capable without him.

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