Barcelona director Toni Freixa is confident the Spanish champions have the quality to cope with the loss of forward Lionel Messi to injury.

Messi could be sidelined until 2014 after suffering his latest hamstring injury during Sunday’s La Liga match at Real Betis, with Barca’s medical team estimating he will be out for between six and eight weeks.

Losing the four-time reigning world player of the year is a blow but while Freixa concedes Barca obviously depend on the Argentina ace to a certain extent, they are better placed to deal with his absence now than in previous years.

Freixa said: “The team is always ‘Messi-dependent’ because it’s impossible not to be with the best player in the world. People talk about it like it’s something bad but it’s a good thing.

“We’ve improved this weakness now. The team have other resources and it is performing at a great level.”

Barca, who signed Brazil forward Neymar in the summer, are still unbeaten under new coach Gerardo Martino this season and boast a three-point lead at the top of La Liga and are also through to the Champions League knockout stages.

Therefore, the prospect of being without Messi for up to eight games is not such a worrying one.

What will concern Barca fans is the hamstring problems Messi has been struggling with, with his latest one being his third of the season.

Freixa has no doubts though that Messi will return as good as before.

“We are utterly confident that he’ll recover in two months and be the best player in the world,” he said.

“If this had to happen it’s happened at an extraordinary time, leading the league and qualified in the Champions League, and when the best player in the world gets back we’ll be ready to fight for all the titles. Any problems? None.”