Lionel Messi was forced off at half-time during Barcelona’s Liga clash against Athletic Bilbao.The Ballon d’Or winner opened the scoring from the penalty spot at Camp Nou but did not emerge for the second half as he was replaced by Arda Turan.

And Goal understands the Argentina international felt some pain in his right hamstring and did not want to risk playing another 45 minutes.

Messi missed five games earlier this season after sustaining a knee injury in a 2-1 win over Las Palmas, though Barca went on to win four without their Argentine talisman – only losing to Sevilla – scoring 14 goals in the process.

Luis Enrique was then dealt a further blow midway through the second-half as Jordi Alba limped off with an apparent hamstring problem.

The left-back was replaced by Marc Bartra, with the score at 5-0 after goals from Messi, Neymar, Ivan Rakitic and a Luis Suarez double.

Goal.com

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