La Liga: Is Lionel Messi going to be sidelined for upcoming El Clasico?

In what might be a nightmare to many football fans could be a reality. Spanish club FC Barcelona who are facing injury concerns ahead of the El Clasico clash on Wednesday may even sideline key player Lionel Messi.

Messi could be rested for the first leg of the semi-final fixture, coach Ernesto Valverde revealed. The reason for keeping Messi away is after the clash against Valencia, he was seen limping.

Messi who brought back Barca from a 0-2 down score to 2-2 draw received a blow to his right thigh, Xinhua news agency reported.

“He has a problem, but we don’t know its seriousness,” Valverde said after the game.

O captain, my captain #Messi pic.twitter.com/HF4XzHayy5

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 4, 2019

The striker was “good, but we are going to do some tests to see how serious the problem is. We hope he gets better early,” he added.

“We will wait to see what doctors say. Although we don’t think it is going to be very bad,” said the coach.

Valverde also said that if had Messi’s injury was serious; he would have asked to be substituted. “But he didn’t say anything,” he added.

“If he’s fit, he’ll play, if he isn’t someone else will play,” he remarked.