adminBARCELONA. — Lionel Messi suffered a groin injury as Barcelona were held 1-1 by Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou last Wednesday night and the club said he would be out of action for at least three weeks. Barcelona coach Luis Henrique said afterwards: “To lose Messi means that football loses. With Messi we are stronger, but we will continue being strong”If the Argentinian’s early departure was not bad enough, Barça failed to make up ground on the La Liga leaders Real Madrid, whose unbeaten start had been halted earlier in the evening when they could only draw at home with Villarreal.
Barcelona seemed to be on course to cut Real’s lead to one point when Ivan Rakitic headed home a cross by Andres Iniesta in the 41st minute.
But Diego Simeone’s side were dogged opponents and scored the equaliser their efforts deserved when the substitute Ángel Correa got the better of Javier Mascherano to slide a precise shot past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen in the 61st minute. Messi had Barcelona’s first effort in the 14th minute but it was comfortably saved Jan Oblak while for Atlético, who were content to play on the break, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco tested Ter Stegen with an angled drive after a quarter of an hour. — The Guardian.
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