Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has admitted that it is "impossible" for the Catalan side to replace Lionel Messi following his long-term injury.
The Argentine suffered knee ligament damage in Saturday's La Liga clash with Las Palmas and is expected to be on the sidelines for the next six to eight weeks.
Ahead of Tuesday's Champions League Group E game against Bayer Leverkusen, Enrique spoke about the "big challenge" of learning to cope without the club's leading marksman.
"It's a big challenge to play without Messi. It's a motivation, but you can't replace Messi, that's impossible," Enrique told reporters.
Luis Suarez and Neymar are now Barcelona's only two senior strikers in the first-team squad, but Sandro Ramirez and Munir El-Haddadi have both already featured this season.
Written by
Matt Law
Matt Law
