David Villa described the tackle as 'horrifying'. Gerard Pique came out and stated that it seems as if you can do anything these days to stop the best players in their tracks. 'They hunted him down' he snarled. Johan Cruyff bizarrely claimed it was Barcelonas fault that Messi got injured. The failure to snatch a killer third goal kept Atletico hunting for the equaliser until the last second. The culprit, Tomas Ujfalusi, bravely faced the press to say it was bad luck and that he never intended to hurt Leo Messi. I'm inclined to agree with him. A very poor, mistimed tackle it was. A deliberate attempt to snap Messis ankle it wasn't.
In any event, when Messi went down screaming in agony you feared the worst. Then when the cameras panned in on his hideously swollen ankle, you were left wondering how many months we would be without his mercurial talent. So it was relief all round when Barcelona released a statement this afternoon that claimed Leo would only miss ten days of action, with sprained ankle ligaments the diagnosis. He'll miss the league matches against Sporting Gijon and Athletic Bilbao, returning to action against Rubin Kazan Wednesday of next week. Good news.
