NO MESSI NO BARCELONA/////>>>>????

The Argentine is out for seven to eight weeks after suffering ligament damage against Las Palmas on Saturday and his absence represents a huge blow to the team's title hopes.

A sunny afternoon at Camp Nou against a promoted team looked like the ideal way for Barcelona to boost morale after Wednesday night's 4-1 loss at Celta Vigo. But disaster struck after just nine minutes as Lionel Messi limped off through injury. And just after the game, fans' worst fears were confirmed.

The Argentina attacker was taken to hospital for tests and initial reports claimed he would miss the next three weeks. If that seemed bad enough, the news confirmed by the Catalan club following the final whistle was even worse: ligament damage in his right knee and an expected recovery time of seven to eight weeks.

That means Messi could miss Barca's next eight or nine games (including Champions League clashes against Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov, both home and away, plus Liga meetings with Sevilla, Rayo, Eibar, Getafe and Villarreal.

If he is available again after seven or eight weeks as predicted by Barca, the 28-year-old could be involved in the Clasico on Nov. 21 at the Santiago Bernabeu - and everyone involved with the club will be crossing their fingers that he will be ready to return for what is likely to be a vital fixture in the title aspirations of both teams.

However, the Clasico clash comes exactly eight weeks after his injury and unless he can recover faster than expected, Messi is likely to be doubtful for the date in Madrid.

Asked after the 2-1 win against Las Palmas if he would be available for the game against Real, Luis Enrique said: "I'm not looking at the calendar. We are focused on the next game - against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday."

However, the Asturian coach did admit that his side will need to make some serious improvements after relying on the Argentine to dig the team out of a hole on several occasions already this season.

"We will keep playing as we have been, but there are some aspects that Messi resolved and perhaps we will have to be stronger in those collective aspects," he said. "Messi's injury is a test and an added motivation for us."