It’s rare to see a meaningful game being played on the Thursday coming out of an international break, but FC Barcelona will do just that when they welcome in Osasuna, for a La Liga fixture, in just six days time. With that in mind, they have five injury concerns to cover. Three of which are more recent: Marc Casado, Inigo Martinez and Andreas Christensen while the other two Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Marc Bernal, are long-standing.
Also, just for the record, we think it’s great that there is a match on the Thursday- the sooner the international window ends, the better.
So let’s just get to it.
Marc Casado
He suffered a serious LCL injury in the big win over Atletico Madrid last Sunday. There is good news though- he won’t need surgical repair, and thus his timeline for return is much shorter.
“This morning, additional tests were performed on first-team player Marc Casadó, confirming a partial tear of the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee. He will undergo conservative treatment and is expected to be out for approximately two months,” reads a club statement.
There is some hope that he could be back at the very tail end of the season.
Inigo Martinez
He also got hurt in the final game right before the FIFA window. However, it’s much less severe as it has been reported to be just a meniscus irritation. He could be back in early April.
Andreas Christensen
It has been stop-start, one step forward, two steps back with his fitness lately. But the muscular issue with his foot seems to be healing now, and he could also make an early April return.
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Marc Bernal
These two have long been done for the season, with serious knee injuries. They have been busy working on their rehab.
International Break Injury Updates
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Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.