Madrid: Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta will be out for between six and eight weeks, the Spanish champions confirmed on Saturday after he suffered knee ligament damage in a 3-2 win at Valencia.
Iniesta was stretchered from the field in tears after just 14 minutes, but fears he could be sidelined for months were eased by tests upon his return to Barcelona.
“After the first diagnosis carried out at Mestalla, the tests in Barcelona have shown the extent of the injury,” Barca said in a statement.
“The time out is between six and eight weeks.”
Iniesta could now return in time to face Real Madrid in the first El Clasico of the season on December 3.
However, he will miss Barca’s Champions League trips to Manchester City and Celtic next month.
Barca had earlier confirmed Iniesta had injured the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee.
Coach Luis Enrique was incensed when Valencia’s Argentine midfielder Enzo Perez escaped without even a yellow card for the challenge that caused the injury.
“We saw very clearly from the tackle it was an injury, and a serious one,” said Enrique.
“We will see tomorrow, but it will be weeks. There wasn’t even a yellow card.”
Barca’s season has been plagued by injuries so far as Lionel Messi has just returned from nearly a month out, whilst Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba were injured in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Manchester City.
Messi has returned in fine form, though, as his sixth goal in three games since his comeback deep into stoppage time from the penalty spot moved Barca to the top of La Liga.
Messi opened the scoring and had the last word of the wild match when he beat Diego Alves with a well-taken penalty kick that slid just between the diving goalkeeper and the post.
Messi rifled in his first goal from the edge of the area.
Valencia rallied to take the lead on goals by Munir El Haddadi, who is on loan from Barcelona, and Rodrigo Moreno early in the second half before Luis Suarez scored to make it 2-2 in the 62nd.
Messi then snatched the win from the penalty spot with 90 minutes complete after he passed the ball to Suarez, who was fouled by Aymen Abdennour in the box.
Diego Alves, an expert penalty stopper, tried to psyche Messi out by talking to him before he took his kick. But with the pressure on, Messi coolly converted his chance, and his 19th goal in 21 career matches against Valencia.
Messi’s goals took his league-leading tally to eight. They were his fifth and sixth goals in three matches since returning from a three-week hiatus while recovering from a right groin strain. He scored a hat trick to lead a 4-0 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League.
It was the first loss in two matches for Valencia’s Italian coach Cesare Prandelli.
“It was a very complicated game physically speaking, very aggressive,” Prandelli said. “But we were playing against one of the best teams in the world. I’m proud of our effort.
