Messi Injured in Barca Win

Barcelona travelled to Madrid to face Atletico Madrid is what proved to be a grueling encounter for the blaugrana with Messi suffering an ankle injury close to full time.


Messi gave Barcelona the lead thanks to a precise finish on the outside of his left foot. Raul Garcia then equalized with a header from a set piece. However, 10 minutes before half-time, Pique put his team back in front with a classy taken goal.


Barca started in usual fashion, dominating possession with slick, one-two passing.
It was David Villa's attempt that struck the post which led to the first goal, scored by Messi.


Pedro's perfectly timed pass was all the little Argentinian needed to slot the ball past Atletico's keeper, De Gea in the 13th minute.


The lead was short lived, with their first attack of the game, Atletico equalized from a corner, headed in by Raul Garcia. Victor Valdes, misjudging the height of the ball, gifted it to Garcia for his first goal in over a year.

Barca didn't panic and continued to play the only way they know and in the 33rd minute were rewarded with a goal. Messi found Pique from a corner, who calmly took the ball on his chest, let it bounce then volleyed it in.


Barca's tirade stepped up a gear in the second half, with De Gea being called into action to make three great saves in the first five minutes to prevent Barca from increasing their one goal margin.


David Villa, who spent most of the game camping in an offside position, went close to scoring a few times but couldn't beat De Gea, who despite conceding two goals, was outstanding and easily Atletico's man of the match.


The seconded half was more heated as Atletico tried to press for the equalizer, Barca's domination of possession lead to deafening whistles from the home crowd. Fouls were plentiful, with Atletico becoming frustrated as the match wore on.


Iniesta was proving to be a handful, on many occasions he skipped past numerous Atletico players with such grace and style. He was substituted in the final minutes and the World cup winner received a standing ovation from the crowd.


What was looking to be joyous journey back to Catalunya was cut short when, in the second minute of injury time, Messi was left in agony by a dangerous tackle from Tomas Ujfalusi, who received a red card. A close up shot showed Messi's ankle to be swollen heavily from the nasty tackle, the seriousness of the injury is yet to be confirmed, lets hope that he'll be okay.