A painful blow: Barcelona star leaves the Sevilla match in tears

following his injury

Barcelona suffered a painful blow against Sevilla when Denmark's Andreas Christensen limped off before the hour mark, felled by pain in the back of his left thigh during this seventh-round La Liga fixture.

Christensen went down after a collision with Sevilla forward Ruben Vargas. The clash looked minor at first, but pain soon flickered across the defender's face, and Hansi Flick's staff pulled him off, sending on Gerard Martin in his place.

Wincing on the substitutes' bench, Christensen clutched the back of his left thigh as the medical staff applied ice to the injury. Now Barcelona wait to learn its nature and how long they will be without him.

He had been excelling before his exit. The Dane played a key role in Barcelona's equaliser, surging forward and threading a perfect through ball to Raphinha, who finished it off.

Cruel timing, too. Christensen had only just started to rebuild his standing at Barcelona after a difficult season. His 492 minutes this term already close in on the 551 he managed across the whole of last season.