Lionel Messi Won't Play for Barcelona vs. Getafe After Suffering Groin Injury

Lionel Messi won't play against Getafe in La Liga on Saturday after Barcelona confirmed the 32-year-old suffered a "left adductor injury" during Tuesday's 2-1 win over Villarreal.

Messi missed the start of the 2019-20 season due to a calf injury, and Barcelona's official website confirmed the forward is set for a return to the treatment table and added that "his recovery will determine his availability."

AS provided more context: "While the club made no comment regarding how long he will be sidelined, reports in Spain claim that the Argentine forward will definitely miss Saturday’s trip to Getafe and could remain a doubt for the Champions League tie with Inter [Milan] on next Wednesday."

If Messi is out for more than a week, he could miss the Oct. 6 match against Sevilla, who have taken 10 points from 15 domestically, at the Camp Nou.

Messi had started against Villarreal but needed to be substituted for Ousmane Dembele at the break, with manager Ernesto Valverde initially preaching caution:

Another injury continues what has been an unusually stop-start beginning to a season for Messi. He has played at least 49 matches in all but one of his previous 11 seasons at Barcelona—he played only 46 matches in 2013-14, per Transfermarkt.

Being without Messi again is sure to negatively impact Valverde's squad. Barca won just two of six matches in all competitions with Messi unable to start, including losing twice in the Spanish top flight.

It's hardly been an ideal start to a title defence, but things were looking up for Valverde when Messi came off the bench during the recent 0-0 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

However, he couldn't change the outcome in Germany, nor could Messi rescue his team from losing 2-0 to Granada on Sunday. Barca's other forwards simply haven't picked up the slack in Messi's absence, with Luis Suarez struggling to get back to his best and summer signing Antoine Griezmann, a goalscorer against the Yellow Submarine, still searching for consistency following his move from Atletico Madrid.

While Suarez and Griezmann are stars, Messi is still the creative heartbeat and goalscoring talisman of this team. The classy No. 10 netted 51 times in 50 appearances during the 2018-19 season, a big reason he won the FIFA Best Men's Player award on Monday.

Now the Blaugrana must again try to refute the idea their success depends entirely on Messi and show there is enough strength in depth to win without arguably the greatest player of his generation.