Barcelona suffer another setback as defender picks up fresh injury | OneFootball

Barcelona’s defensive issues are not purely down to their defenders – that much has been made clear by both manager and players of late – but they will not be able to try out any new solutions in the coming weeks. That is because Andreas Christensen has suffered a fresh injury, having missed their last two games.

The Danish defender was absent from their Champions League win over Olympiakos, and then again from their clash with Real Madrid on Sunday. The former was due to a case of gastroentiritis, which he duly recovered from on Saturday, but he was not in the Barcelona squad come Sunday for El Clasico.

Christensen suffers fresh muscle injury

According to RAC1, via MD,  Christensen has suffered a fresh injury to his calf, which he trained some time between Saturday and Sunday. It is not yet clear how much time he will miss, but the likelihood is that he is out against Elche this weekend, and will be a doubt for their Champions League trip to Club Brugge next week, even if it is a minimal strain.

Image via Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Christensen’s ongoing injury problems

The 29-year-old has been an injury worry for the past two seasons, after missing the majority of the last campaign, primary due to an Achilles issue. This season he has played 338 minutes in nine games, but just three of those appearances were starts. That is despite being without a declared injury until last week.

Barcelona’s alternatives in defence

Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia appear to be the first-choice pairing in central defence for Hansi Flick as things stand, with Ronald Araujo the only real alternative currently. Jules Kounde is another alterantive, but that would mean likely using one of Garcia or Araujo at right-back to cover shifting his position into the middle.