Spanish international Sergio Busquets had to be stretchered from the field with a serious looking ankle injury as Barcelona sealed their place in the Copa del Rey final with a 3-1 win over Villarreal on Wednesday.

“Busquets has a high ankle sprain in his right ankle,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“He will undergo more tests on Thursday to discover the exact extent of the injury.”

The 26-year-old had his ankle stood on by Villarreal midfielder Tomas Pina in the build-up to the hosts equaliser on the night scored by former Barca man Jonathan dos Santos.

“It is the bad news of the night without a shadow of a doubt,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.

“I can’t give a diagnosis before the doctors look at him. We know he will be out for a while, how long the doctors will decide.”

Neymar had opened the scoring after just three minutes from Lionel Messi’s cross before Dos Santos sent the sides in level at the break.

Pina was then shown a straight red card 20 minutes into the second-half for another heavy challenge on Neymar.

Luis Suarez made it 2-1 before Neymar rounded off the scoring to seal a 6-2 aggregate victory.

However, the loss of Busquets could prove an expensive price to pay for a place in the final for the Catalans as they face Real Madrid in a crucial La Liga clash and host Manchester City in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in the coming weeks.