FC BARCELONA | LIONEL MESSI INJURY, THEORIES & RECOVERY

Thanks to Spanish Sports paper "Marca" & "Elisa Martin" for her fantastic infograph in reference to FC Barcelona & Argentina International star Lionel Messi, we have a clearer picture of all the injuries that the players has had & is currently suffering.

The left leg muscle tear during last weekend Liga game will put Messi off the field between 6 - 8 weeks. Worrying for Barça & fans as Messi is the authentic motor & goalscorer of the team. The absence of Messi may halt the current unbeatable streak in Liga & allow rivals like Atletico de Madrid & especially Real Madrid to cut back in Liga table points. On an individual level Messi loses options for the upcoming FIFA Golden Ball & on a personal level it is a sever psychological blow.

The player has been falling to the same injury & this raise the questions if the medical team is doing well their job, if the player is returning too early back on the field due to the over zealous Messi or if psychologically the player is not 100%. Everyone admits that a balanced connection between mind & body is crucial.

The facts are 9 injuries in the same area. The theories are numerous: too much summer travelling around the world with promotions & charity matches which did not allow rest, an unbalanced diet based on animal protein ( Argentines love meat ) , lack of supervision by the Club, the "bad method" of personal trainer Juanjo Brau who has been parted ...etc. The "Messi case" is getting almost to "emergency state" or "conspiracy theory" levels.

The Club has decided to not risk any further their star & make sure that there is a complete recovery before getting back onto the field. Takes what it takes, thus the "alarm" at Barça & from fans that perhaps the team will suffer the absence of Messi. Some go further & speculate if this will be a long term problem, thus a psychological & nutritional angle is also being added to the Messi recovery schedule part in Argentina & in Spain.

The player to benefit from this will be Neymar who apart from gaining the role & responsibility of filling the Messi gap, has the chance to step out from the shadow of the Argentine & shine individually. 

Either way it will be interesting to watch how FC Barcelona perform in coming matches. For now there is a gap with International matches which will allow the Barça technical team to figure out their next moves & plans to lessen the maximum possible the absence of the star.