Barcelona forward Neymar has been ruled out of Sunday's (AEDT) La Liga match at Malaga.

Neymar will not be risked owing a hamstring issue that prevented him from training with the rest of his teammates on Saturday.

Defender Gerard Pique is also out of the game through suspension, while Jordi Alba and Rafinha are still injured.

However, coach Luis Enrique did confirm Lionel Messi had shrugged off his own hamstring problem  to play and he is indeed named in the 18-man party for the game.

Neymar, who came third in the 2015 Ballon d'Or, has only missed two league matches this season and has scored 16 times in 17 top-flight appearances.

Barca goes into the match two points adrift of leader Atletico Madrid with a game in hand and, with Diego Simeone's men not playing Sevilla until Monday (AEDT), victory would put the side top of the table.