The Barcelona and Argentina superstar sustained a tear in a ligament in his left knee during the clash with Las Palmas but the national team medic is unworried by the setback

Argentina team doctor Donato Villani is confident injured Barcelona star Lionel Messi will return to action in less than two months.

Messi is set to miss the next seven-to-eight weeks after suffering a tear in the internal collateral ligament of his left knee in Barcelona's 2-1 win over Las Palmas on Saturday.

The 28-year-old's injury is a blow for both Barca and Argentina, but Villani believes the national team captain will return quicker than expected.

"For years I've known Leo and I have no doubt that he will be ready in the shortest possible time of the injury, perhaps before that period of six-to-eight weeks," Villani told Ole.

"He gets mad when he cannot play, when he's not with the ball. Because of that I know that he's going to recover quickly and in the best way because he's very professional.

"The desire to play again and the will to heal can influence."

03:16:00

The central midfielder said he knew the Argentine was crocked in their defeat of Las Palmas on Saturday as he never complains

Sergio Busquets was left ruing Barcelona's "bad luck" after Lionel Messi sustained a knee injury against Las Palmas.

Messi was withdrawn in the 10th minute with the club later revealing he has a tear in his internal collateral ligament.

The Argentine superstar is set to be sidelined for up to two months, which represents a significant blow to a Barca side who are second in the Liga table behind Villarreal.

Busquets told Canal Plus: "You know that if Messi complains, then something's wrong.

"He's the best player in the world, our best player. We're having some bad luck with injuries, and not being able to register new players makes things worse."

03:09:00

Pro-independence parties in Spain's Catalonia region have won an absolute majority in regional elections, near complete results show.

With more than 90% of the votes counted, the main separatist alliance and a smaller party won 72 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament.

They said earlier a majority would allow them to declare independence from Spain unilaterally within 18 months.

The central government in Madrid has pledged to block such moves in court.

Image copyrightReuters

With nearly 94% of the votes counted, the "Junts per Si" ("Together for Yes") won 62 seats, while the far-left separatist CUP party is expected to secure 10 mandates.

"We have won," Catalan regional President Artus Mas told his cheering supporters late on Sunday.

After a celebration rally, the pro-independence camp's leaders told the BBC's Tom Burridge that they would now proceed towards the creation of an independent Catalan state.

But the road ahead is controversial and anything but clear, our correspondent adds.

The pro-independence parties said ahead of the vote that they considered it a de facto referendum on independence from Spain.

They argue that the Spanish government has consistently refused to allow a legally recognised referendum to take place, ignoring an unofficial vote backing independence in November 2014.

Opinion polls suggest a majority of Catalans favour a referendum on independence but are evenly divided over whether they want to secede.

15:28:00

Robert Lewandowski was breaking records again Saturday as he reached a tally of 100 German top flight goals quicker than any foreign player.

The Pole notched the fastest ever hat-trick in Bundesliga history when scoring all five of Bayern Munich's goals in Wednesday's 5-1 drubbing of Wolfsburg.

And two more Lewandowski goals in Bayern's comfortable 3-0 win away to Mainz Saturday ensured he achieved a century of Bundesliga goals in just 168 appearances.

Lewandowski arrived in Munich on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund in 2014 after scoring 74 goals in three years at the Westfalonstadion.

Saturday's strikes take him to 27 goals for Bayern. They also helped extend the Bavarian's 100% start to the season.

Pep Guardiola's side have now won seven league matches on the bounce and are five points clear of closest rivals Dortmund who play newly promoted Darmstadt on Sunday.

Elsewhere in Germany Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen picked up a valuable 3-1 win away to Werder Bremen to move into fifth position in the Bundesliga table.

Fourth placed Wolfsburg continued to struggle after Wednesday's defeat away to Bayern with a 1-1 draw at home with Hannover.

Hoffenheim won 3-1 away to Augsburg while Borussia Monchengladbach triumphed by the same score line at Stuttgart.

15:19:00

Hearts were in mouths at the Nou Camp Saturday as a knee injury sustained after just three minutes forced Lionel Messi out of Barcelona's La Liga fixture with Las Palmas.

Messi collided with opposing defender Pedro Bigas as he tried to shoot in the Las Palmas penalty area only to be left writhing in agony.

The Argentine received treatment and briefly returned to the field of play but was visibly struggling. Barca coach Luis Enrique subbed the four-time world player of the year shortly after.

Barcelona's Twitter feed later confirmed that Messi had torn the internal collateral ligament of his left knee.

The injury will see him side-lined for between seven and eight weeks."Firstly, it is always sad when a player gets injured. It is without doubt the worst thing in football for the players," said Barcelona coach Luis Enrique in quotes carried by the AFP news agency.

"Obviously, when it is Leo Messi even more so for the weight he carries amongst our group."

Depending on the speed of his recovery, Messi's participation in the first Clasico of the season against Real Madrid could now be in doubt.

Spain's two biggest sides are due to clash on November 21 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

Barca will of course hope its star player will be able to return to action before then.

15:11:00

   

A Brazilian court has accused Neymar of evading taxes and on Friday froze assets worth 188.8 million reais ($47.6 million) belonging to the Barcelona striker, his family and related businesses.

Neymar, 23, is being investigated on suspicion of evading 63 million reais ($16 million) worth of taxes between 2011 and 2013, when he transferred from the Santos football club to Barcelona, according to the Santos prosecutor's office for Brazilian tax authorities.

A federal judge in Sao Paulo froze three times the amount allegedly owed as a security measure to prevent Neymar -- whose full name is Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. -- from selling the assets before the case has been resolved and to cover eventual fines and interest payments.

The judge said the superstar "failed to report income coming from abroad" and "failed to report payments" from Barcelona. The athlete declared $19.6 million reais, according to officials.

The assets under question belong to Neymar, his father and businesses allegedly owned by the two.

The Brazilian court estimated the value of Neymar's assets was at 224.2 million reais ($57 million) at the end of 2013.Neymar's parents told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo that Neymar had not evaded taxes and was not a partner in the businesses named in the court decision.

The money involved in Neymar's transfer from Santos to Barcelona is a focal point of the investigation.

Last year, Barcelona released figures that showed that the club paid 86.2 million euros for Neymar, rather than the 57.1 million euros originally reported. The team had to pay 13.5 million euros ($18.5 million) in additional taxes but denied any fiscal "irregularities."

Neymar's former club Santos was unhappy with how the transfer fee was divided up. A large chunk was paid to a company controlled by the player's father, Neymar Sr.

In most transfers the biggest payments go to the old club. Agents and other intermediaries also get a cut. Players sometimes get bonuses from their new and old clubs, depending on stipulations in their contracts.

Neymar, one of the best players in the world and a star on his national team, reportedly makes about 275,000 euros per week. Forbes magazine estimated his 2015 earnings from salary and endorsement deals at $31 million per year.

15:06:00