Alarm bells ring as Lionel Messi forced off due to injury

Lionel Messi was forced off early in the first half after injuring his arm on a fall.

Barcelona forward, Lionel Messi, suffered an arm injury in their game against Sevilla. Minutes after putting Barcelona up 2-0, Messi clashed with a Sevilla player trying to win the ball. He slipped and in trying to break his fall, his arm hit the ground bending in an awkward angle.

Not known for faking an injury, Barcelona and its fans held their collective breath as he was being attend to by the medical staff.

Messi was replaced in the 26th minute by Ousmane Dembele and headed to a medical facility for further tests on his injury.

While Barcelona have not put out an injury update as reports range from him being out for two weeks and others a bit longer. What is certain is that he is unlikely to play midweek against Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Barcelona released a statement stating that Messi suffered a fracture in his right arm that will sideline him for around three weeks. In addition to missing the game against Inter, he misses games against Real Madrid, away at Rayo Vallecano, away at Inter, and at home against Real Betis. In between the games against Madrid and Rayo, Barcleona have a Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa but Messi was unlikely to feature either way.

From how it looked initially, that he will only be out for three weeks was the best case scenario.

It is no secret how much Barcelona depend on Lionel Messi for their success and any long-term injury is a huge blow for them. Especially considering there really is no replacement for him.

Dembele came on but struggled immensely giving up the ball very easily. He was the one who lost the ball that led to Sevilla’s second goal.

This will be the firs time since the 2015/2016 season that Barcelona will potentially be without Messi for an upcoming clasico. The last time, Barcelona fared well beating Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Rafa Benitez was the Madrid manager back then. The big difference for Barcelona is they still had Neymar to pick up the load.

We’ve seen how Barcelona struggle when Messi’s not playing especially under Ernesto Valverde. Valverde has options on the bench and he’ll have to make use of them for both him and the team’s sake.