Few seasons Barça had started the season with five competent central defenders like in the current one. However, the month of October has only just begun and Xavi Hernández will only have two healthy central defenders available for the next league match against Celta: Eric Garcia and Gerard Piqué.
Andreas Christensen was the last to fall. It happened during the second part of the match against Inter Milan corresponding to the third day of the Champions League. The Danish defender missed Henrikh Mkhitaryan and in the clash he was knocked out. He tried to hang on for a few more minutes, but finally left the field in the 58th minute with blood on his ankle, which he sprained.
The medical statement after the game indicated that Christensen suffered a sprain of the external ligament of the left ankle. On Wednesday, more tests will be done to find out the exact extent of the injury. This new setback comes at a bad time, with two other crucial games for the future of the season: against Inter next week at the Camp Nou and the classic on October 16 against Real Madrid.
If he does not recover in time, Xavi will only have Eric Garcia and Piqué at his disposal in full physical condition. The Catalan central defender was chosen to play the last half hour at the Giuseppe Meazza and played his first minutes in the top continental competition this season.
With Ronald Araújo in dry dock for three months, Barça is holding on to straws for Jules Koundé to arrive on time for those two games. The question is whether to force the Frenchman, injured like the Uruguayan in a match for his national team.
In addition to these injuries, Barça cannot count on Héctor Bellerín since last week, which leaves Sergi Roberto as the only right-back in the Blaugrana squad.
