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Barcelona face a midfield injury crisis after both Frenkie de Jong and pedri were forced to abandon in the first half of Sunday’s LaLiga draw with Athletic Club in San Mamés.
De Jong was stretchered off in the 26th minute after landing awkwardly on his ankle. He Netherlands The international spent two months on the sidelines earlier this season with a sprained ankle.
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Pedri, for his part, came off just before the break with his third muscle injury of the campaign. A hamstring problem ruled him out for two months in August and he missed three weeks earlier in the year with another muscle problem.
Both players will undergo scans on Monday, but Barça coach Xavi Hernández says it doesn’t look like food for either of them.
“The injuries affected the team because Frenkie and Pedri are two important players for how we want to play,” said Xavi in his post-match press conference.
“Pedri is back to being well [after his last injury], trained very well this week. She is a disgrace. Frenkie too. He is very involved in our game. They are two big losses.
“It doesn’t look good. We miss them today and we are going to miss them. Hopefully it will be for less time than expected.”
The match against Athletic ended with a 0-0 draw, leaving Barça right where the day began: in third position with 58 points, eight behind the LaLiga leader. real Madrid.
“It was a great wasted opportunity,” added Xavi, when Barça missed the opportunity to close the gap on Madrid, who were tied by Valencia on Saturday, and climb to second place ahead of Gironawho lost to Majorca earlier on Sunday.
“We didn’t play well. Maybe the first 15 minutes were good, but the rest wasn’t. We can’t be satisfied. We have to be self-critical. We should have taken a step forward.
“It’s true that it’s a difficult place to get to, but we’re disappointed because it wasn’t how we wanted to play. Maybe the only positive thing is how we defended.”
However, the big negative was the absence of De Jong and Pedri ahead of key matches in both LaLiga and the Champions League before the international break at the end of March.
Barça is now left without a midfielder gaviwho was ruled out for the season in November after tearing his ACL while playing for Spain.
Xavi used the center Andreas Christensen and the young Fermín López alongside Ilkay Gündogan after losing De Jong and Pedri in Bilbao.
Oriol Romeu It is another option to play in the midfield, since Barça will play the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Naples on March 12 at the Olympic Stadium. The first leg in Italy finished 1-1.
Before that game, Barça will host Mallorca in LaLiga on Friday and then travel to Atlético Madrid, one of the four main rivals, on March 17.
In addition to De Jong, Pedri and Gavi, Barça is also left without left backs Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso and forward Ferran Torres due to injuries.
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