Messi ruled out of Malaga game with illness
The Argentine striker played two games during the international break and will miss the trip to Malaga along with the suspended Luis Suarez.
Lionel Messi will not be available for today's game against Malaga. The Argentine is unwell in what could be a recurrence of him falling sick during a flight to San Juan ahead of Argentina’s crunch game with Colombia later last week. They would win that game and Messi played despite losing heavily to Brazil just a few days before that Messi also played in.
Barcelona are already missing the suspended Luis Suarez and are now without two of their best players. Suarez will be replaced by Paco Alcacer, who is yet to score in a Barcelona jersey since his summer move.
Messi will be replaced by Arda Turan, who is more of a creative force than a goal scorer. Barcelona welcome Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Jeremy Mathieu back ffrom injury while Aleix Vidal also makes the squad but the Messi news comes as a massive blow against a volatile Malaga side.