Barcelona, Spain

Lionel Messi was found to have suffered a bone bruise in Barcelona's Champions League game against Benfica.

He was taken off on a stretcher after colliding with goalkeeper Artur Morae but was back in the gym Thursday.

Mesi said via goal.com that he was in so much pain and feared the worst.

He had entered the game as a substitute in the 58th minute of the meaningless game and fell in the 84th minute.

Messi is one goal shy of Gerd Muller's record of 85 in a calendar year, but Coach Tito Vilanova denied that breaking the record, set in 1972, was a factor.

The coach emphasized that playing is part of Messi's training.

"He's not focused on breaking the record that everyone is talking about. Iif that were the case, he would have played against Alaves [in the Copa del Rey last week] and the full 90 minutes against Benfica," Vilanova told ESPN.

Messi insisted that the record "is not an obsession," but he's going to go for it.

"If I can do it, great, if I can't it's no big deal," he quipped.

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