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Barcelona is dealing with an injury dilemma in midfield after Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were forced out in the first half of Sunday’s LaLiga match against Athletic Club at San Mames.
De Jong was stretchered off in the 26th minute after landing awkwardly on his ankle. The Netherlands international missed two months of action earlier this season due to a damaged ankle.
Pedri, meanwhile, left soon before the break with his third muscle injury of the season. A hamstring injury sidelined him for two months in August, and he lost three weeks at the turn of the year due to another muscle issue.
Both players will have scans on Monday, but Barça coach Xavi Hernández believes it does not seem good for either of them.
“The injuries affected the team because Frenkie and Pedri are two important players for how we want to play,” Xavi remarked at the post-game press conference.
“Pedri has been improving [after his last injury], and he exercised quite well this week. That’s such a shame. Frenkie too. He is quite active in our play. These are two significant defeats.
“It does not seem good. We missed them today, and we will continue to miss them. Hopefully it will last less time than expected.”
Barcelona fears the title chase as the club faces injury in the midfield
The match against Athletic resulted in a 0-0 draw, keeping Barcelona in third position with 58 points, eight behind La Liga champions Real Madrid.
“It was a big opportunity wasted,” continued Xavi, as Barça missed the chance to close the gap on Madrid, who were held by Valencia on Saturday, and move into second place ahead of Girona, which lost to Mallorca earlier on Sunday.
“We didn’t play well. Maybe the first 15 minutes were fine, but the remainder weren’t. We cannot be content. We need to be self-critical and we should have taken a step forward.
“that’s true that here is a difficult place to come, but we’re disappointed because that wasn’t how we wanted to play. Perhaps the only positive is the way we defended.”
However, the loss of De Jong and Pedri before of critical La Liga and Champions League games before the international break at the end of March was a significant disadvantage.
Barcelona midfielder Gavi missed the full season after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury during a match in November Spain.
After losing De Jong and Pedri in Bilbao, Xavi utilized Andreas Christensen, Fermín López, and Ilkay Gündogan.
Oriol Romeu is another option to play in the middle of the field.
On March 12, the Olympic Stadium will host the second leg of Barcelona’s Champions League round-of-16 match versus Napoli. The first leg in Italy finished 1-1.
Barcelona will host Mallorca in LaLiga on Friday before heading to top-four opponents Atlético Madrid on March 17.
In addition to De Jong, Pedri, and Gavi, Barcelona is now without left-backs Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso, as well as striker Ferran Torres, due to injury.
