It hurts in the depths of my soul, a Barca fan says on Messi's absence

Barcelona will miss Lionel Messi on Sunday his goals his dribbles his presence as much as anything but the angst will be gone with the help of three weeks rest and a slingFor the fans that came to see him not the match or the teams but him the disappointment will be harder to shake This will be the first Clasico without either Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo since December 2007 when Julio Baptistas winner was the difference in a 10 win for Real MadridThere have been 35 games between them since Messi has lit up more than a few the hattrick in 2007 the two freekicks and that run leaving five Madrid players for dead Sergio Ramos twiceIn a stall on Carrer dAristides Maillol lining the western edge of Camp Nou a vendor stands under a collection of red and yellow scarves behind him pinned up shirts with Messi 10 on their backsWe will sell Messi shirts here even 20 years after he retires he says Nothing will change on Sunday What does a Clasico mean without Messi No hay There isnt oneWhich isnt true of course It was 1902 when Barcelona first appeared in Madrid for the semifinal of the Copa Coronacion There have been 199 of them without Messi and there will be many more after he has goneBut in this current era this fixture at Camp Nou is about him more than anyone else Everyone wants to witness Messi once still more on the biggest stageWhen he stayed down clutching his broken right arm against Sevilla last weekend it was a blow for Barca but a blow too for the thousands that thought they were eight days awayMore than 8000 kilometres away in Whitehorse northern Canada Barcelona fan Myles was one of those watching He has MESSI as his car number plate His six years supporting means he has only ever known the club with Messi in itI consider myself a big Barca fan but I have a special obsession with Messi he saysMyles and his girlfriend paid 500 euros each for tickets to this Clasico Their 19hour flights each way cost a combined 1600 Canadian dollarsTo say I was shellshocked when he got injured is an understatement Myles says It is not about the moneyIn a scenario where it was guaranteed Messi would play I would have paid north of 2000 dollars for ticketsThe sense of time running out increases the stakes for these faraway fans Messi turned 31 in June and this next meeting is a sneak peak into the future Not long away supporters will wonder if every Clasico could be his lastLucas is from Texas celebrating his 10year wedding anniversary in Spain He will go alone to the Camp Nou on Sunday where he has shelled out 1400 USD on a VIP ticketI knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me Lucas saidI thought it could be my first and likely only time watching Messi playThere are the family connections too like Marta and her brother Javier who have flown over from Tenerife and have been Barcelona fans since they were childrenWe support Barca but we love Messi Marta said Our hope has always been to see Barca at the Camp Nou but even more exciting was to see the best player in history The injury against Sevilla left us so disappointedAnd those that came out of national pride like Laucha who has travelled from Viedma in Argentina I am a Boca Juniors fan and the expense was considerable but Messi is Messi she saidThis opportunity will probably not come again for me It hurts in the depths of my soul Samantha from England whose husband is taking their fanatical eightyearold son as a birthday present would even accept a sighting Perhaps he could still walk around the pitch and wave she saysThere is no other footballer that attracts so much adulation so far around the globe as MessiAs the biggest teams are increasingly watched more on screens than from stands by supporters with no tangible link to their cities the most recognisable players are becoming just as iconic as their clubsWhen one website advertised tickets on Twitter for last weekends game between Barca and Sevilla the bait was catching Messi in full flow Sevilla are one of Messis favourite victims it readMadrid are too He has 26 goals in 38 games against them but not on Sunday For his opponents relief For some of his fans regret and the hope the chance will come round again