After the relevant medical tests, Barça confirmed this Monday the injuries suffered by Frenkie de Jong and Pedri in the match against Athletic at San Mamés (0-0). The Dutchman suffers a sprain in the external lateral ligament of his right ankle and the Spaniard suffers a muscle tear in the rectus femoris of his right thigh. The club has not specified the time of absence, but both will miss, barring a surprise, the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Naples on March 12.
The Dutchman was the first to turn on the alarm signal in San Mamés. It was the 25th minute when De Jong fought high for a ball with Unai Gómez and at the moment of resting his right leg on the grass again, after a slight brush with the Athletic player's leg, his ankle was spectacularly twisted.
The midfielder writhed in pain on the pitch, with his hands on his face knowing that the injury would send him to the infirmary again in the decisive stretch of the season. He tried to put his foot down without success until, frustrated, he asked for the motorized stretcher to leave the grass with his face contorted. In addition, De Jong already suffered an injury to the distal tibioperoneal syndesmosis of the same ankle that kept him out of competition for two months.
The bad news for Barça in Bilbao continued in the 45th minute, when Pedri, after making a long pass to the right wing, sat down on the green. Also with his hands on his face and teary eyes, the canary left the field desolate after suffering the umpteenth muscle setback in recent years. This season alone he has already been in dry dock for three months and has missed a total of 15 games due to two injuries.
The two losses, crucial in the development of the Blaugrana game, join that of Gavi, another mainstay in the midfield, who was injured last November and will not reappear until the following season due to a serious knee injury.
