Barcelona star Lionel Messi is facing up to two months on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury during the 2-1 La Liga win over Las Palmas on Saturday.
Messi was hurt in the early stages of the game at the Nou Camp and taken to hospital for tests where the extent of the injury was discovered.
“Messi has a tear in the internal collateral ligament of his left knee,” the club said via Twitter. “He will be out for around 7-8 weeks.”
The 28-year-old Argentina playmaker, who was captaining Barca with Andres Iniesta on the bench, asked to be substituted in the eighth minute after hurting his left knee in a clash of legs with Daniel Castellano in the third minute.
Following medical attention, he went back on, but two minutes later asked to be replaced with Munir El Haddadi introduced off the bench.
Barcelona went on to prevail 2-1 as they bounced back from their 4-1 mauling by Celta Vigo on Wednesday.
Luis Suarez scored both goals against newly-promoted Las Palmas, netting in the 25th and 54th minutes.
Neymar also missed a penalty in the 66th minute before forward Jonathan Viera replied for the visitors with two minutes remaining.
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