Lionel Messi needed tranquilisers to play through the pain of kidney stones during three matches this season, according to his doctor.
Messi underwent treatment last month after missing Barcelona's Club World Cup semifinal in December with renal colic, an abdominal problem caused by kidney stones.
"Leo Messi played three games with the stone in his kidney," specialist Ruiz Marcellan told Catalan television, according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPNFC. "He played with tranquilisers as he had not yet expelled it."
The procedure reportedly involved an ultrasound shock wave to break down the stones, meaning it wasn't invasive surgery.
Messi also sat out of a Copa del Rey match against Valencia in February, but needed little time to recover. He scored a goal and assisted two others in a 6-1 rout of Celta Vigo just days later.
The Argentinian could face similar issues in the future, however. Ruiz warned that Messi has a "genetic predisposition" to kidney stones, and that "it is very easy for him to have between two and eight stones in his kidney until he is 50 years old."
