Birkirkara striker Etienne Barbara may miss the club’s final first round match against Valletta.

He was injured during a training session on Monday and at first it was feared that he had a muscle tear which would have kept him out for six weeks.

But later it was ascertained that the injury was not as bad as at first thought – in fact it has been described as a strained muscle – and that he would be back in training after a few days.

A Birkirkara FC club official said yesterday it was possible that Barbara may miss the Valletta match, but they were expecting the Malta striker to recover quickly from this injury.