Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi looks on during the Spanish League “Clasico” football match Real Madrid CF vs FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. PHOTO: OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP

Lionel Messi has pulled out of Barcelona’s squad for Saturday’s La Liga match at Malaga with reports saying the birth of his third child is imminent.

The club tweeted: “Change to the squad. Messi is out for personal reasons and Yerry Mina takes his place.”

Messi’s wife Antonella Roccuzzo is expecting a boy, a brother to five-year-old Thiago and Mateo, who is two. The child is expected to be called Ciro.

The Argentinian couple, both 30, first met as children in 1996. Their relationship began a decade later.

Barcelona, who face Chelsea in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, have an eight-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

AFP