Sunday 27 September 2015 13:20, UK
Luis Enrique admits the potential two-month absence of Lionel Messi will have an impact on Barcelona's style of play.
Messi suffered knee ligament damage in Barca's 2-1 La Liga victory over Las Palmas on Saturday and they take on Leverkusen in their Champions League Group E clash on Tuesday with limited options to replace him in attack.
The FIFA transfer ban for signing underage players that prevented Barca bringing in reinforcements over the last two transfer windows along with the sale of Pedro to Chelsea and the long term injury for Rafinha has left them with mainly youth players as back-up.
"It is always sad when a player is injured. In the case of Messi it is not necessary for me to say what we all know that he is very important to the team," Barca manager Enrique said.
"Without Messi we lose a lot of things from our style of play that we will now have to rearrange collectively but I have no doubt that we will overcome this."
Leverkusen still have to deal with Neymar and Luis Suarez, the other components of an attacking trident that bagged 122 goals last season and Enrique feels the absence can even be an opportunity for the team as a whole to show its value.
"This team will cope fine and will deal with this," he said. "It is capable of doing so well because it has personality and courage. It can be seen as a test and a stimulus."
