Want to be interested in watching El Clasico next week? This is the first time in 11 years Barcelona vs Real Madrid's big match takes place without Lionel Messi, and without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lionel Messi will miss El Clasico next Sunday after the Barcelona star has a right fracture injury against Sevilla. That means the match will run without Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in more than a decade.
El Clasico is arguably the biggest match in football, when the entire eyes of the world observe the two biggest La Liga teams. Over the past nine years the match has been dominated by a battle between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo because the pair are the best in football and defend the opposite team.
In the summer Cristiano Ronaldo finally ended the rivalry of the two players when he moved from Real to Juventus, leaving Messi in Spain alone.
Messi's performance has been very good so far this season, scoring seven goals and contributing five assists in just nine matches. He will hope to extend this record at the first El Clasico this season, but that is unlikely now.
In the 15th minute of Saturday's Barca La Liga vs. Sevilla meeting, the five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or suffered an injury which left him with a right radial fracture and will be sidelined for the next few weeks. Barca have confirmed that Messi will miss about three weeks, putting him aside for this week's match against Inter Milan in the Champions League.
El Clasico will be completely different after the era of Messi-Ronaldo domination, with no two players next week.
Barca have not won an El Clasico game without Messi since their debut for the club. They failed to win one of the two matches against Los Blancos since 2004 when he was absent.
