Kidney stone forces Messi to skip training

Lionel Messi has passed a kidney stone which ruled him out of their Club World Cup semi-final and Barcelona will now decide whether he will be fit for the final, the Spanish sports daily AS said on Friday.

The Argentina forward was ruled out of Thursday's 3-0 win over Guangzhou Evergrande at the last minute because the club said he was suffering from renal colic, a condition associated with kidney stones.

The sports daily AS said on its website that Messi had endured another "bad night" but had passed the stone which was causing him pain. The club said he had missed training on Friday but did not give any further details.

Messi is battling to be fit for Sunday's final against River Plate, which would be only the second time in his career that he has played against an Argentine team.

Brazilian forward Neymar also missed Thursday's match after suffering a small strain in an adductor muscle before a Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen last week. Barca said he continued rehabilitation work.

Barca are runaway favourites to win the tournament for a third time since it started in 2005.

Image: Barcelona's soccer player Lionel Messi smiles during a training session ahead of their Club World Cup semi-final soccer match against Guangzhou Evergrande in Yokohama, south of Tokyo on Tuesday

Photograph: Toru Hanai/Reuters