BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Barcelona faces two long months without Lionel Messi after its star forward tore a ligament in his left knee during the defending champion’s Spanish league match against Las Palmas on Saturday.
The Catalan club confirmed the injury after Messi had tests at a nearby Barcelona hospital. Barcelona said it expects Messi to be out “seven to eight weeks.”
Messi went down after colliding with Las Palmas defender Pedro Bigas in the third minute.
He writhed on the ground in front of the Las Palmas goal before play was stopped. Following medical attention, the Argentina star went back on, but two minutes later asked to be replaced in the eighth after carefully trotting around and testing his leg with a pair of passes.
Messi walked off by himself as Munir El Haddadi replaced the four-time world player of the year in front of a subdued Camp Nou crowd of almost 75,000.