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Messi fractures arm, out of action for three weeks

Barca star fractures arm; to miss Sunday's El Clasico, double-header with Inter

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will be out of action for three weeks after he fractured his right arm during yesterday morning's (Singapore time) 4-2 La Liga win over Sevilla, a club statement said.

The injury ruled him out of the clash against arch-rivals Real Madrid this Sunday - the first time since Dec 23, 2007, that neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will play in the "Clasico" .

Ousmane Dembele replaced Messi in the 25th minute after the Argentinian was examined by club doctors on the sidelines following a challenge by Sevilla's Franco Vazquez.

The Barca talisman, who had set up Philippe Coutinho's opening goal in the second minute and scored their second, looked in serious pain as he left the pitch with his right arm in a bandage.

"Obviously, it's a considerable loss," said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde.

"We know what he gives us and what we miss when he is not around. We have to deal with it and we will be prepared.

"It's clear that we will notice his absence, but we will cope and we have resources, even though we will be facing some very difficult teams."

In addition to missing the "Clasico", Barca's all-time top scorer will be unavailable in Thursday morning's (Singapore time) Champions League clash at home to Inter Milan and the return game on Nov 6.

Barca defender Gerard Pique admitted Messi's absence would have an impact on the team, but backed his side to come through their next few games without dropping too many points, Reuters reported.

"He gives us a lot of peace of mind when he plays, but we don't have to suffer without him," he said.

"There's a big difference between having him on the pitch or not, but we have a strong enough team to win games whether he plays or not."

The Catalans, now on 18 points from nine games and one point clear of Alaves and two of Sevilla, lacked momentum without Messi in the second half and it took a jaw-dropping double save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen to prevent Sevilla from pulling a goal back.

Moments after the German's heroics, Barca's Luis Suarez converted from the penalty spot after being tripped by Sevilla's goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.

Sevilla midfielder Pablo Sarabia pulled a goal back for the visitors soon after, only for former Sevilla skipper Ivan Rakitic to score Barca's fourth, declining to celebrate the strike against his former club.

Sevilla substitute Luis Muriel made it 4-2 in stoppage time, after ter Stegen had made another stunning double save.

Valverde admitted his side had been affected when Messi was forced off.

"I won't deny that it jolted us a bit and we struggled to adapt. We played with 10 men for a while, hoping that he would recover. After their goal, we had difficulties killing the game off."

Sevilla coach Pablo Machin, whose side relinquished top spot due to the loss, admitted that Barca were the better side.

"Barca were more accurate in attack and defence, particularly with their saves," Machin was quoted as saying by Marca.

"They had a great goalkeeper stopping us and we competed well against opponents who showed they wanted the leadership.

"We did too, of course, but came up against some great goalkeeping interventions and I thought ter Stegen was key."

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