NOT SERIOUS

The Barcelona assistant manager Roura has said that the injury suffered by the star striker Lionel Messi is not a serious one and he expects the forward to be part of the starting line-up for the next match. The 25-year-old Lionel Messi was substituted in the recent match against Malaga after suffering an injury. He scored two goals in the game, as he set up Barcelona on their way to a 6-4 victory on aggregate. This victory has helped Barcelona play in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey where they have been drawn against their arch rivals Real Madrid.

Messi has managed to remain injury free for most of the last few years. This has also been one of the key reasons in the Argentine dominating world football with his superb skills. He recently claimed his fourth consecutive FIFA Ballon d’Or award, thus becoming the first player to win this prestigious award four times. He was given this award as a result of the 91 goals he scored in all competitions for both club and country in the previous calendar year. He has already started scoring plenty of goals in 2013 as well, but the injury appeared to be a little serious.

It would have ruled him out of the important matches against Real Madrid in the next week, but the assistant manager has confirmed that it is not a serious problem. “We brought Messi off the as a preventative measure. The adductor in his right elf was giving him problems. It’s nothing serious. Once again, these players proved what they are made of. They gave a footballing lesson, an they’ve given quite a few! Frankly, the whole team played well,” said the assistant manager. The Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova recently returned to the dugout, but saw his team get defeated in the league for the first time this season.