Barcelona coach Guardiola admits Messi fitness worry

FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted he was worried about the possible extent of the groin injury striker Leo Messi suffered in Bilbao on Saturday night.

Messi was substituted after 75 minutes of his side's 1-1 draw against Athletic Club and sat in the dugout with an icepack on the left side of his groin.

It's not yet certain whether or not the Argentinean has merely a strain or whether he has torn a muscle, but he will certainly miss Tuesday's vital Champions League match against Inter Milan and is a doubt for next Sunday's "Clasico" against Real Madrid.

"The first feelings we have about the injury are not that good," he admitted in declarations published on the Barcelona website on Sunday.

"I am certain he feels sad about it, because nobody likes to be injured," said the Barca coach, who is also without a Rafael Marquez, Toure Yaya and Eric Abidal, who all have cases of the A/H1N1 Swine Flu virus.

"What can we do about it?" commented Guardiola. "We can't just stop and wait for them to get better. The fans will have to realize that we are going to play with the players that we have available," he said.

Source: Xinhua