Dembele or Rafinha? How Barcelona will line up in the Clasico without Messi

Goal.com

The news that Lionel Messi had been ruled out of action for three weeks with a fracture in his right arm sparked panic among Barcelona fans.

How on earth were they supposed to cope without their talisman in Sunday’s Liga showdown with Real Madrid?

Messi, after all, is the king of the Clasico, with more goals (26) and more assists (14) than any other player to have ever graced the most iconic fixture in world football.

He is, in that sense, irreplaceable. And yet someone has to fill the void left by the No.10.

So, who will Valverde turn to?

On Wednesday, the Barca boss pointed out that he has “very options” but the most obvious solution initially appeared to be Ousmane Dembele, the man who replaced Messi after the Argentine had been forced off injured in last Saturday’s Liga win over Sevilla.

Messi’s ‘FIFA Best’ snub shows league success no longer counts for anything

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According to the majority of those who vote for The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award, Lionel Messi does not rank among the game’s top three players over the past 12 months.

Gary Lineker was among the many absolutely baffled by Messi’s omission from the podium places, arguing that “no one that understands the game” could have excluded him from their top three.

The former England international reasoned, “Barcelona won the double largely thanks to Messi.”

‘More than a club’? Malcom hijacking proves hypocritical Barcelona are just like everyone else

Nobody better understands the win-at-all-costs mentality of modern football than Jose Mourinho.

When the Portuguese hijacked Tottenham’s signing of Willian from Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013, he added insult to injury by essentially claiming that Spurs only had themselves to blame for naively revealing that the Brazilian was in London for a medical.

Calamitous Barcelona in ruins as Roma topple Messi’s empire

The famous Champions League comeback happened after all on Tuesday – just not in the game everyone expected.

While all of the talk in the build-up was about whether Manchester City could overturn a three-goal deficit against Liverpool, few gave Roma much hope of a turnaround at home to Barcelona. But the Serie A side pulled off a rousingremontada to dash the Catalans’ Champions League dreams and also their hopes of winning the treble.

BARCELONA EXPECT DEMBELE RETURN IN JANUARY AFTER SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

Barcelona expect Ousmane Dembele to return at the beginning of January following a successful operation on his hamstring.

The France international suffered a torn tendon in the 2-1 La Liga win at Getafe and it was feared he could be out for up to four months.

However, after surgery in Finland, Barca now hope he will be back for close to the start of 2018.

‘DYBALA CANNOT BE COMPARED TO MESSI’ – ONLY RONALDO IS AT BARCA STAR’S LEVEL, SAYS CASSANO

Antonio Cassano has stressed Paulo Dybala is “incomparable” with Lionel Messi, with the Juventus star more like Vincenzo Montella than the Barcelona icon.

After starting the season in blistering form for the reigning Serie A champions, Dybala continues to draw comparisons with his fellow Argentine.

THE €150M INJURY – DEMBELE DISASTER THREATENS TO DISRUPT BARCELONA’S SEASON

Everything appeared to be back on track. After all the problems suffered by Barcelona during a troublesome summer, including the departure of Neymar, the Spanish Supercopa loss to Real Madrid and issues at boardroom level, there was a new-found optimism after a strong start in La Liga and the Champions League.

As it turned out, however, another setback was just around the corner. Because on Saturday, summer signing Ousmane Dembele limped off