Messi will sit out next two training sessions

Lionel Messi will sit out Barcelona's next two training sessions after leaving the Nou Camp with his heart in its mouth on Wednesday night against Benfica.

Messi has 84 goals this calendar year - just one behind Gerd Muller's 1972 record of 85 - and Barcelona will need him on Sunday having won only one of their last 10 visits to Betis' Benito Villarmarin stadium.



The Argentine has a bruised bone in his left knee after a collision with goalkeeper Artur and will stay in the gym while his team-mates prepare for Sunday's game against Betis.



Club doctor Richard Pruna will then decide, along with the player and his coach Tito Vilanova, if he can train normally on Saturday and then travel to Seville for Sunday night's match with fourth placed Betis.



The Nou Camp were calling for Messi just before the half time whistle of last night's draw with Benfica and Villanova gave in to their demands early in the second half only for the No 10 to go down holding the back of his knee five minutes from time.



Drama was heightened when the player was carted to the far corner of the ground, because the electronic car carrying his stretcher wouldn't fit down the tunnel, and whisked away for tests.



Messi suffered several long-term injuries at the start of his Barcelona career but has not broken down since March 2008 when he injured a thigh muscle against Celtic keeping him out for six weeks.



His four years under Pep Guardiola were almost injury-free with the then Barcelona coaching bringing in podiatrists and dieticians to help prevent injuries.



One of the doctors used by Guardiola Xavier Gasso was important in linking the player's frequent muscle injuries with his feet and remedying the situation by adusting the sole inserts in his boots.



Last night Barcelona fans feared the old problems had returned but a medical report issued at half-past midnight local time calmed those concerns.



The good news also got coach Vilanova off the hook with critics ready to blame him for bringing Messi on in what was a dead rubber game for Barca.



He said: 'I would not do anything differently. We had spoken before about the possibility of him playing for 30 minutes.





'He is a player who always wants to play, and not because he is about to break a record – something which everybody else is talking about but that he never mentions.

'If we were concerned about the record then I would have played him and all the other first team players from the start.'