La Liga to have El Clasico without Messi and Ronaldo for first time in a decade

Bengaluru, October 22: The first El Clasico of the season on Sunday (October 28) at Camp Nou will be the first one in 11 years not to feature either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo on the field.

Messi fractured his arm during Barcelona's 4-2 home win against Sevilla while Ronaldo is getting used to life in Italy under Serie A champions Juventus.

The last time an El Clasico was played sans the two super stars was way back in December, 2007.

For the first time since December 2007, we won't have Ronaldo or Messi in El Clasico #adeakyeabia pic.twitter.com/iTHU6FuaJd

— OKAYFM (@Okay1017fm) October 22, 2018

Since then, all the El Clasicos have been all about the famed rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo and come Sunday, the aficionados as well as fans will feal a huge void.

Barcelona had snapped a four-match winless run in La Liga with a 4-2 home victory over title rivals Sevilla to reclaim top spot but the triumph was marred by talisman Messi fracturing his arm and being ruled out for three weeks.

This came after Real's surprise 1-2 loss to Levante, which has put further pressure on Julen Lopetegui.

Record signing Philippe Coutinho gave Barca the ideal start by curling a first-time shot into the top corner in the second minute, helped by a clever through ball from Messi.

Sevilla almost struck back instantly when Guilherme Arana hit the post but Messi doubled the lead in the 12th minute with a trademark solo run from deep and a left-footed strike into the far corner as he entered the area.

The Argentinian was left badly hurt moments later following a challenge from Franco Vazquez and left the pitch with a bandaged right arm.

A club statement revealed the forward had suffered a fracture, ruling him out of five games in La Liga and the Champions League, most crucially the El Clasico as well as both games against Inter Milan.

❗ [INJURY NEWS] Leo #Messi fractures arm in 4-2 over Sevilla. More details 👉 https://t.co/w3VkoQHzZM

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 21, 2018

"It's a considerable loss," said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde of the injury to his club's all-time top scorer and captain.

"We know what he gives us and what we miss when he is not around. We have to deal with it and we will be prepared. It's clear that we will notice his absence, but we will cope and we have resources, even though we will be facing some very difficult teams."

The Catalans, now on 18 points from nine games and one point clear of Alaves and two of Sevilla, lacked momentum without Messi in the second half and it took a jaw-dropping double save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen to prevent Sevilla from pulling a goal back.

Match stats | Other results | Points table

Who would've imagined a table like this two months into the season? 🤯💭#LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/2VHrlITHaa

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) October 21, 2018

Moments after the German's heroics, Barca practically killed off the game when Luis Suarez converted from the penalty spot after being tripped by Sevilla's goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.

Sevilla midfielder Pablo Sarabia pulled a goal back for the visitors soon after, helped by a heavy deflection from Barca defender Clement Lenglet, only for former Sevilla skipper Ivan Rakitic to score Barca's fourth, declining to celebrate the strike against his former club.

Sevilla substitute Luis Muriel made it 4-2 in stoppage time, after Ter Stegen had made another stunning double save.

Valverde admitted his side had been affected when Messi was forced off.

"I won't deny that it jolted us a bit and we struggled to adapt. We played with 10 men for a while hoping that he would recover. After their goal, we then had difficulties killing the game off."

(With inputs from Agencies)