Ferran Torres missed FC Barcelona’s win over Espanyol yesterday due to reasons that go beyond fitness/injury. While he was set to miss fifth straight game on Sunday, due to a hamstring injury, he had still been with the team on match day. That changed yesterday, and Barcelona manager Hansi Flick explained why.
“I completely understand why Ferran Torres didn’t come to the stadium today,” Flick told the media after the game.
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“He didn’t have the strength to come and he told us that. I fully understand that. There are things that are more important than football.”
Torres is from Valencia, a region of Spain that has recently been battered by natural disasters.
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Elsewhere Eric Garcia, it had been thought, was a doubt/touch-and-go/late fitness test for this weekend, but now, such is not the case. The unspecified muscle injury that he’s dealing with will actually keep him out for a few weeks.
“I think he will return after the national team break,” Flick said ahead of the Catalonia derby. “He had problems and we had to decide that he should train outside the group.”
If that timeline is correct, then Garcia should make his return on Nov. 23 against Celta Vigo. Otherwise, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Marc Bernal remain out as long-term injury absentees.
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.”
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