Barcelona could be without Lionel Messi when it takes on Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey on Wednesday after the Argentine seemingly picked up a knock in Saturday's clash with Valencia. Prior to the incident, the Blaugrana skipper single-handedly ensured that his side escape a home defeat by grabbing a brace to equalise the visitors' two-goal lead.
While Messi attained a new milestone in the process, the points won through his goals ensured Barcelona maintained its position atop the league table although Atletico Madrid could gain some ground on the defending champions to the position should it win against Real Betis on Sunday.
On !#Messi has now scored in straight games!
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 2, 2019
11 goals
Valencia
Sevilla
Girona
Leganés
Levante
Eibar
Getafe
Celta
Levante pic.twitter.com/xcx8cSssFj
Nonetheless, the biggest concern in the camp of the Catalan club revolved around whether Messi will be fit for the first leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-final tie with Real Madrid. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner appeared to have picked up an injury at the latter stage of Saturday's clash with Valencia and immediately drew medical attention.
At full time, his teammate Ivan Rakitic iterated that the team hopes "Messi's injury is nothing". However, the anxiety among interested parties have been calmed with Spanish outlet Onda Cero confirming that the Barcelona skipper has no fitness issues, contrary to what was previously assumed to be a muscular injury.
The report suggests that the striker should be in training on Tuesday and so should his attacking partener Ousmane Dembele. The latter, who has hit top form in recent times, has been sidelined for the past few games after he picked up an ankle injury about two weeks ago.
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