Rafinha suffers gruesome head injury vs Athletic Bilbao

Rafinha suffers gruesome head injury vs Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona were able to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid with a win against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
The Catalans ran riot in a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Camp Nou, which featured a record-breaking goal for Lionel Messi. He converted a free kick from a tight angle, his 27th for Barcelona, breaking Ronald Koeman's previous club record of 26 set piece goals.

Paco Alcacer made the most of a rare start for his club and scored after 18 minutes before Aleix Vidal wrapped up the three points with a wonderful solo effort.
But the victory came at a cost for Barcelona.  
Early in the second half, defender Rafinha was forced off the pitch after sustaining a head injury. He was caught by goalkeeper Ter Stegen's boot. Although a defender and goalkeeper colliding is nothing new, a graphic picture surfaced online following Barcelona's victory.  

And it's not for the faint-hearted.
The photo shows a huge gash above Rafinha's left eye that begins around his eyebrow and cuts all the way up to his forehead.    
It's not known how long the defender will be out of action, but he should be able to face Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Ray should the Barcelona medical team have plenty of bandages.    
Barcelona, who are now just one point behind Real in La Liga, are still battling on two domestic fronts this season. They have a 2-1 first leg lead against Atletico in the cup, as well as home advantage in the second game.      

Real were knocked out of the same competition by Celta Vigo last month, and would have been hoping to extract revenge this weekend when they were due to meet in the league.      
However, the weather in Vigo over the weekend has caused the game to be postponed, with strong wind and heavy rain causing damage to Celta's Balaidos stadium.
Because they are unable to play this weekend, Zinedine Zidane's side now have two matches in hand over Barcelona, meaning that the gap between the two could be extended to seven points.  
Despite the injury to an important player, it has still been a successful weekend for Luis Enrique's side. They play Alaves next in the league, a team who are also in the semi-finals of the Copa del Ray.
With the likes of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in their ranks, there's no reason Barcelona can't catch Real at the top of the league as we head into the last few months of the season.