Barca's Rafinha to miss rest of the season

Rafinha © Gallo Images

Barca's Rafinha to miss rest of the season

Barcelona midfielder Rafinha's season was brought to a premature end after undergoing knee surgery on Friday, the club confirmed.

 The Brazili

an will be sidelined for four months ruling him out of Barca's push for a treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey.

 "Rafinha has had an arthroscopy in the right knee to solve an injury in the internal meniscus," Barca said in a statement.

 "The estimated time out is four months."

 Rafinha had to be replaced after just 17 minutes of Barca's 4-1 win at Granada on Sunday.

 The 24-year-old had become a key player in Barca boss Luis Enrique's switch to a 3-4-3 formation following a 4-0 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in February.

 He scored seven goals in 28 appearances in all competitions this season.

 However, Rafinha has an unfortunate history of knee injuries having missed the majority of last season to cruciate ligament damage.