BARCELONA: Nothing can silence the Camp Nou crowd like the thought of an injury to Lionel Messi especially four days before a clash against Real Madrid.

So a chill ran through Barcelona’s supporters during the La Liga match against Valencia on Saturday when Messi sat down on the sideline, his right leg stretched before him, and received a massage from a team trainer.

Little did it matter that the team’s all-time leading scorer had just struck two goals to lead Barcelona back from a two-goal deficit to secure a 2-2 draw. Any hint of Messi being sidelined with the season entering its critical phase with titles on the line immediately overshadowed yet another outstanding performance by the Argentine.

Messi may have been hurt when Valencia defender Antonio Lato ran into him. The scare comes before Barca host Real in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.

“Please don’t let it be anything serious,” Barca midfielder Carles Alena said. “We hope he will be back in full form on Wednesday.” Coach Ernesto Valverde said Messi was undergoing medical exams.

Messi missed Barca’s first clasico against Real in October due to a broken right arm. His team-mates did fine without him, routing their fierce rivals 5-1 and sealing the fate of coach Julen Lopetegui.

Before his fitness put a damper on a thrilling match, Messi extended his scoring run to nine straight games across all competitions. His double took his league-leading tally to 21 goals in 22 rounds.

Barca’s winning streak in La Liga ended at eight matches in a row. They provisionally lead second-placed Atletico Madrid by six points.

Valencia took advantage of Sergi Roberto playing out of position as a fill-in left back for Jordi Alba. Daniel Wass led several attacks from Roberto’s side, starting with a pass for Dani Parejo to test Marc-Andre ter Stegen before Denis Chershev put the rebound off the post.

Parejo started a move that produced Kevin Gameiro’s opener in the 24th minute when he tackled Messi. That sprung a counterattack led by Rodrigo Moreno, who slipped a pass forward to set up Gameiro.

Parejo doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after Roberto knocked down Wass trying to dispute a cross.

Messi got his first goal from the penalty spot in the 39th after Nelson Semedo was fouled by Lato.

Messi struck again in the 64th when Arturo Vidal laid the ball off for him on the edge of the area. Messi quickly unleashed a curling, left-foot strike around two defenders, who impeded goalie Neto from seeing the ball until it was too late to react.

Celta Vigo broke a five-match losing streak and escaped the relegation zone by beating fourth-placed Sevilla 1-0 at home thanks to Okay Yokuslu’s second-half goal while Getafe’s 0-0 draw at Levante saw them rise to fifth.

Real Sociedad defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1 to deal their northern Basque Country rivals their first defeat since the arrival of coach Gaizka Garitano.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2019