Barcelona's Busquets out with toe injury

Barcelona - Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets will be out for around three weeks with a fractured toe and faces a race to be fit for next month's Champions League quarter-finals.

Busquets hobbled off in the 61st minute of Barca's 3-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday as Lionel Messi's double sealed a 4-1 victory on aggregate. Ousmane Dembele was also on target at the Camp Nou.

The Catalans will discover on Friday their last eight opponent, with the first leg scheduled for April 3 or 4, leaving Busquets a maximum of 21 days to recover.

Busquets' injury comes at a bad time too for Spain, with coach Julen Lopetegui due to announce on Friday his squad for friendlies against Germany on March 23 and Argentina on March 27.

A Barcelona statement on Thursday read: "The tests performed have confirmed that the player of the first team Sergio Busquets has a fracture in the phalanx of the fifth right toe with a wound. His approximate absence is three weeks."