FC Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi, reportedly took painkillers to play in the El Clasico against Real Madrid.
Messi was unable to prevent his side from a 3-1 loss against the bitter rivals and failed to leave his mark on the game.
The Argentine, who is only one goal away from Telmo Zarra's all-time La Liga record, had only one great scoring chance but was denied by Iker Casillas in the first half.
Messi's lack of production was initially thought to be due to the inclusion of Luis Suarez into the line-up, but reports in Spain claim he was only fit to play after taking painkillers.
According to El Confidential and ARA, Messi twisted his ankle on Thursday and was not 100 percent fit going into the match.
However, he reportedly refused to let a minor sprain keep him out of football's biggest game and reportedly took painkillers to be able to play.
Barcelona haven't acknowledged that Messi suffered an injury before or during El Clasico.
View: Gallery: Messi, Neymar, Suarez And Co Fall To Ronaldo's Real
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