Last night's Champions League produced a heart-stopping moment during the tie between FC Barcelona and Benfica when in a race to score a goal, Barcelona maestro and scourge of defenders, Lionel Messi collided with the goalkeeper, suffering an injury to his left knee and silencing the Nou Camp crowd.
Prior to that match Barcelona had already qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League, so that wasn't what was at stake; what was at stake however was the race to beat the record held by the German, Gerd Muller for the most goals scored in a calender year.
Gerd's record has stood for 40 years with 85 goals. Messi was chasing the record with 84 goals in 2012 - and maybe hoping to beat it before the year ends - when he suffered the injury.
With a game coming up on Sunday against Real Betis, fans fear he may not be fit enough to take part and may be out for the rest of the year, putting him at risk of not beating the record.
He was carried off in a stretcher and Barcelona eventually ended the match 0-0. The club said in an initial assessment that Messi had an outer bruise to his left knee.
''It's a bruise which doctors have been having a look at,'' Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova said. ''We now have to wait for the results of tests, but the feeling is that it isn't more serious than a knock.''
The extent of the shock of seeing the star lying there on the pitch clutching his knee went beyond the record. Anyone who knows football knows that Messi hardly gets injured.
No one can explain it: The guy just doesn't go down, and injuries are alien concepts to the guy, who himself has been described as a 'Little Alien'
Messi didn't start the match, only coming on as a substitute in the 58th minute.
The injury they say isn't serious, but perhaps coach Tito Vilanova should've started the little guy as usual.
No comments:
Post a Comment