Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde says they can handle the absence of Leo Messi after he was injured in victory over Sevilla.

The Argentine went off with just a quarter of an hour gone, having already scored a goal, after falling awkwardly.

"Psychologically we know that when he is there we are stronger but we cannot allow his absence to affect us," said the centre half.

"It makes a big difference to have or not to have him but we have enough cover so as not to worry about whether he is there or not."

Barcelona went into the game against Sevilla with a lot of concerns over their defence and they did look more solid even if they still conceded two goals.

"It was an important game for us, we knew that if we won it then we would be top again," he continued.

"We had the game controlled in part although at 3-0 they had chances. We are conceding goals that we shouldn't be, but there are things like the first goal with Lenglet that you can't avoid. Others come from nowhere like that which Marc saved."