Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is hopeful that his thigh injury will not keep him on the sidelines for an extended period of time.

The 26-year-old is expected to miss the next three weeks with the strain that he picked up against Almeria at the weekend, but the Argentine is confident that his recovery will be "very fast".

"I am sorry to not to be involved in the next games and for not being able to play with my team," Messi posted on the social networking site Weibo.

"But I will return very soon because, God willing, the recovery will be successful and very fast."

Barcelona are in Champions League action away to Celtic this evening.