Clasico Will Be Played Without Lionel Messi Or Cristiano Ronaldo For First Time In 11 Years

Lionel Messi will miss next Sunday's Clasico after the Barcelona star was injured against Sevilla. That means the match will be without Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in over a decade.

El Clasico is arguably the biggest match in football, when the eyes of the world will all be on Barcelona and Real Madrid.

For the past nine years the match has been dominated by the battle between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the pair have been by far and away the best pair in football and playing on opposite sides of the rivalry.

In the summer Cristiano Ronaldo finally ended that chapter in the 'rivalry' between the two players when he moved from Real to Juventus, leaving Messi in Spain on his own.

Messi's form has been excellent so far this season scoring seven goals and putting on five assists in just nine games. He'd have been looking forward to extending that run in next week's first Clasico of the season but that won't be possible now.

In the 17th minute of Barca's La Liga encounter with Sevilla on Saturday the five time Ballon d'Or winner suffered an injury that left him with a fractured arm and out for several weeks:

The injury means that the Catalan giants will be without their best player in a week where they face Inter in the Champions League before their Spanish rivals in the Clasico.

It also means that the match will be played without him or Ronaldo for the first time since December 2007, when Messi was injured for that game too, with Julio Baptista's goal the difference in a 1-0 win for Real.

Baptista of all people made the difference. Image: PA Images

There could yet be more change ahead of the big game with Los Blancos reportedly on the verge of selling manager Julen Lopetegui.

The Spaniard only took over at the Bernabeu in the summer after Zinedine Zidane left but after joining in a cloud, following his sacking from the Spain national team, the former Porto manager has only won four of his first nine La Liga games, losing to Levante at home on Saturday.

What will the Clasico be like without Messi or Ronaldo?

Topics: Football News, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Clasico, Sevilla, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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