Sunday brings the third most played fixture, all-time, in Spain as FC Barcelona hosts Athletic Club. And Barcelona brings a very long injury list to this one, and it includes the likes of Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde, Jules Kounde, Sergi Roberto and more.
Let’s run down the specifics of this quartet, and then take a look at the latest status updates of the Barca long-term injury absentees.
FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club FYIs
Kick: Sun Oct. 22, 8pm, Estadi Olimpic
Barca Preview Material: Latest Transfer Talk Starting XI Prediction Team News
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
La Liga Standing, Form: Athletic Club 5th, 17 pts, WLDLWW Barca 3rd, 21 pts, DWDWW
Result Probability: Athletic Club 14% Draw 23% Barca 59%
FC Barcelona Team News
Let’s start with Roberto, who the club revealed just yesterday, has suffered a calf injury. He’s expected to miss the next three matches across all comps. Next, we covered Kounde in detail at this link already, but the gist of it is he’s out indefinitely with a MCL sprain.
Most likely, he’ll return sometime in November.
The club statement on Jules Kounde reads: “Against Granada in another 2-2 draw away from home, he picked up the injury and had to come off midway through the first half, when he was replaced by Ronald Araujo.”
As for Lamine Yamal, a minor muscular problem caused him to miss out on international duty with Spain this window, but he’s reportedly totally fine and should be available for selection.
His countryman, Alejandro Balde suffered an adductor injury while representing Espana, but it is minor.
It’s just more precautionary, as he’s already back in training and should be match fit for this one. As for the Catalan Club’s quartet of long-term injury absentees.
They hope to have Robert Lewandowski (ankle injury) and Pedri (thigh injury) back for El Clasico the weekend after this one while Raphinha (thigh injury) could return for the Champions League clash in midweek.
The outlook for Frenkie de Jong (ankle problem) is much worse, as there isn’t really much of a time table for his return right now.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager 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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