Barcelona currently have 16 first-team players available. To these, we must add Iñaki Peña and Balde, two elements that are totally in the dynamics of the first team. The infirmary of the sports city is overflowing when just three weeks ago nobody crossed that door. Barça accumulates seven injured, three of them in the axis of the defense, when there are four days left for the crucial duel against Inter in the Champions League and eight for the Bernabeu classic.
Xavi has seen himself in worse situations. Last season he had to deal with eight covid positives after the Christmas holidays and in January he traveled to Mallorca in January with 15 casualties. In addition, Frenkie de Jong points to reinforcement for Celta's visit, a game in which the Blaugrana have to defend the leadership of the League.
The Dutch midfielder has been training with his teammates for two days in a row and can be discharged before tomorrow's game. De Jong, who had participated in all the matches with the Blaugrana shirt, suffered an elongation with the Netherlands in the Nations League and could not play either in Mallorca or in the defeat against Inter.
The prevention and control of workloads that the Barcelona coaching staff followed to the letter were blown up in the last national team break. Until then, Barcelona had not had any muscle rupture. Only Sergi Roberto had discomfort in his adductors, which, as a precaution, made him miss three games – he traveled to Munich but was ruled out.
However, Barça went from 0 to 7 injured in just 13 days. Between September 22, when Koundé had to withdraw from France-Austria midway through the first half, and last Wednesday, when Kessié was injured in training after returning from Milan, there have been seven medical reports. "Several fell in a matter of hours", Xavi recounted how he lived through those days in which Barça footballers were injured while playing with their respective national teams. Although the Egarense coach avoided charging inks against the selectors.
“What I know the worst about is Araújo because he had to have an operation”, said Xavi. The Uruguayan was injured in minute 2 of a friendly between Uruguay and Iran and, with an avulsion of the adductor longus tendon in his right thigh, practically said goodbye to the World Cup in Qatar.
Instead, Koundé advances by leaps and bounds. The French central defender was injured in the biceps femoris of the left thigh but is cutting the deadlines. The club trusts that he can help at the Bernabeu but the footballer is optimistic even with advancing his return to Wednesday in the Champions League against Inter, a game in which Barça must win to regain second place in the group.
Precisely in Milan, Barça also lost Christensen, the third center-back. The Dane collided with Mkhitaryan and limped off with blood on his ankle. The tests revealed that the prognosis of the injury, a sprain in the external ligament of the left ankle, is worse than expected and he will be out for four weeks.
The last time Piqué played three games in a row was between the end of March and the beginning of April, before he was injured in Frankfurt. After playing in Mallorca and coming on for Christensen's misfortune in Milan, the veteran defender can link them tomorrow as he is the only healthy centre-back alongside Eric Garcia. Just in case, Pelayo and Chaid Riad (both from 2003 and from the subsidiary) have worked under Xavi.
Memphis said goodbye to Elche with a goal but broke (hamstring of the left thigh) with the Netherlands. He only lasted 52 minutes. Kessié and Bellerín are the exception to the rule as both suffered their muscle injuries training in the sports city. All three will need a couple more weeks to be ready.
Xavi will take comfort in the presence of Frenkie de Jong, the first of the seven to return. His competition should favor the movement of the ball in the Blaugrana attack, something that has cost a lot in Son Moix and San Siro. At the Meazza, Pedri and Gavi only passed the ball 3 times in 86 minutes in Milan, while the Andalusian and Raphinha, who played inside, connected even less, only twice. Hence, being able to count on the Dutchman again is an interesting solution for Barça. Some light in the tunnel.
