Spanish giants Barcelona have, on Saturday, been dealt an altogether considerable blow on the personnel front.
Barca, of course, were back in action a short time ago.
Amid a fine recent stretch of form, Xavi Hernandez’s troops made the short trip to Girona, eyeing an eighth win on the spin across all competitions.
And, when all was said and done, emerge triumphant is precisely what the Blaugrana went on to do, courtesy of a solitary Pedri effort just beyond the hour mark.
Barcelona, as a result, have reopened their advantage atop the La Liga table to a full six points.
As alluded to above, however, an otherwise positive day’s work for the Catalan heavyweights on Saturday was soured considerably by a fresh injury blow.
The Blaugrana star in line for a spell on the sidelines? Ousmane Dembele.
Wide-man Dembele has of course been in scintillating form of late, establishing himself as Xavi’s chief creator en route to eight goals and seven assists across all competitions to this point in the campaign.
With just 25 minutes on the clock at the Estadi Montilivi, however, the French international was forced to depart the action, after pulling up with a muscular complaint.
Speaking to the media post-match, it therefore came as little surprise when the subject of his star winger’s wellbeing was put to boss Xavi.
And the Spanish tactician’s ensuing update proved far from encouraging from a Barcelona perspective, with Xavi having admitted that:
“Dembélé's injury turns our plans upside down.”
Immediate reports in the Spanish media point towards Dembele likely facing somewhere in the region of three weeks out of action.
Such a timeline would throw the former Borussia Dortmund standout’s participation in Barca’s highly-anticipated upcoming Europa League showdown with Manchester United on February 16th into serious doubt.
Saturday’s transfer rumours: Caicedo, Maguire, Rice, Gusto, McKennie and more
Manchester United left with ‘no chance’ after Harry Kane’s latest transfer decision
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/xlmedia/d6ef9264-396f-45e7-b4b1-627d5535badb.png)
