Pedri returns, Frenkie falls: The cruel timing that could derail Barcelona’s season | OneFootball

“Every time I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s usually been an oncoming train.” – These were former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou’s words to describe his club’s injury woes in the 2024/25 season.

Hansi Flick can actually feel free to steal this line and use it for Barcelona. Just when he thought he had gotten back a bit of light in midfield through Pedri, it has resulted in a short-circuit elsewhere.

On Thursday morning, Frenkie de Jong pulled up in training. By afternoon, the club confirms everyone’s worst fear: an injury to the distal biceps of his right leg, with an expected recovery timeframe of 5-6 weeks.

A period of 5-6 weeks sounds manageable in late February, especially with the international break right around the corner. However, when you open the calendar and see the games that the Dutchman is going to miss, it starts feeling less and less manageable.

Because this is the part of the season when Barcelona go from playing weekly to once every three days, and when the big games come around, what you need is control. And De Jong, more than anyone else in Flick’s squad, is the most reliable exponent of it.

The timing could not have been worse

There’s a cruel symmetry to it. Pedri just made a return from a hamstring issue that had kept him out for a month, and just when Barça started framing it as a boost that one of their stars was returning, another one bites the dust.

Both Pedri and Frenkie are important to Barcelona individually. However, what the team will miss the most is them operating as a duo. Pedri is the pianist, while Frenkie is the metronome, and together, they weave an incredible symphony.

In the absence of either one, none of the replacements has so far convincingly shown that they can step into these shows, and the performance tends to become fragile.

What Barcelona lose in Frenkie’s absence

De Jong’s importance to Barcelona is rarely loud. It is easier to understand it in his absence. He is often the team’s first receiver in buildup, a player teammates can trust to take the ball under pressure and find his way out of it.

De Jong’s injury a big blow for Barcelona. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

When fit and fluent, he is one decision away from turning a wave of pressure into an open runway. Possession is often a form of risk management, and in Frenkie’s presence, Barcelona chose which risks to manage very well.

And that is the key: it is not necessarily about what he creates but rather what he prevents. It is almost like having a manager on the pitch, and the Dutchman’s sheer intelligence often turns games in his team’s favour.

Without him, Barça still have talent on the pitch, but they become so much easier to disorder. This is the phase where a season tilts for the better or the worse, and unfortunately for Flick, he will have to navigate through it without his stabiliser.

The fixtures he’s set to miss

From a Barcelona perspective, here is what “5-6 weeks” actually means. These are the games that the captain is expected to miss:

And if the timeline stretches to the far edge of 6 weeks, there is a realistic chance that Espanyol (H) in La Liga on 12th April also comes too soon for the Dutchman.

In other words, the fate of Barcelona’s season could already be decided by the time the midfielder returns to action, and it is never a good thing to have to navigate through such a run without one of your better players.

Newcastle: a game where Barcelona will miss Frenkie, dearly!

The Champions League doesn’t offer second chances. Teams that miss their midfield compass in games usually tend to get punished. Barcelona have been drawn to play Newcastle United in the Round of 16.

Newcastle are a team that tend to make the game direct and vertical. They will look to dominate through duels, sprints and winning second balls and stop Barça from playing their natural game.

This is exactly the kind of game where Frenkie thrives. Such games are often decided by which team can keep their shape better, and De Jong is one of Barcelona’s best solution providers under pressure.

He already dropped a masterclass at St. James Park earlier this season in the league phase and if Barcelona are to reach the quarter-finals, they’ll have to do it without his contributions.

Flick’s problem: modifying his tactical approach

Players like De Jong cause a structural problem in their absence. Flick now needs to decide which version of Barcelona he wants for the next month and a half.

Does he go with a team that prioritises security, minimises risk, focuses on positional discipline and protects the backline, or does he prioritise a team with more talent, more creativity and more speed but risk becoming transitional?

Both choices can work, but they come at a cost. Here are the likely internal solutions that he can consider.

1. Casado: the throwback

Flick just needs to rewind the clock to the first half of last season. Frenkie missed much of the football until December and in his absence, the German manager made Marc Casado his first-choice pivot in midfield.

He is a natural fit if Flick wants continuity without complication. In terms of quality, he is nowhere close to the same level and will not be able to replicate De Jong’s dribbling through lines of pressure, but the Spaniard can keep it clean.

Short passes, short distances, and leave the rest to Pedri could be a template we see a lot with this midfield pairing. The trade-off is obvious. Casado limits Barcelona’s midfield and he isn’t in great form to make this a convincing enough argument in big games.

2. Bernal: Legs, coverage and a different kind of control

Bernal the best placed to replace Frenkie? (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

It does feel like Flick has been building Marc Bernal back up after his ACL injury for this very moment. The teenager has played exceedingly well in recent weeks and looks to have recovered his best level.

In terms of profile, Bernal is the best option to replicate what De Jong brings to the table. What he offers is more running, more control, a wand of a left foot and the ability to win the ball back with his long legs.

For European nights, this could be the perfect way to go. However, the concern here is Bernal’s fitness and whether he has what it takes to become a regular starter at this stage of his career.

3. The hybrid: Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia is Flick’s fixer. Whenever the German has a problem, he turns to the Spaniard to fix the issue. Having played in this position, Eric can act as the stabilising piece.

He offers a calm presence in the build-up, is good on the ball and can drop in as a third centre-back to add security to the backline.

This might actually allow Flick to play Joao Cancelo and Alejandro Balde at right-back and left-back, respectively and get them to push up, allowing the team to attack through different channels.

The Pedri conundrum

In Frenkie’s absence, Barcelona need to handle Pedri and manage his minutes to ensure that they don’t lose him to another injury. Missing out on both midfield stalwarts at the same, will effectively be curtains on the Catalan club’s season.

The temptation is obvious: just give Pedri the keys and get him to do the job, but Flick must resist this. If Barcelona are leading in games comfortably, he should not hesitate to take the Canary Islander off and find a way to play in his absence.

Frenkie’s absence is not one player’s burden to bear; it needs to be distributed adequately.

Why this injury threatens Barcelona’s chances?

This isn’t an attempt to say that Barcelona are doomed in the absence of De Jong. It is just to say that at a time of the season, when the margin of errors is starting to become thinner, the Catalans have lost one of their better maximisers.

The truth about De Jong is this: he isn’t always the best player on the pitch. However, he is often the reason why Barça manage to play a particular style of football. In his absence, that will take a hit, just like it happened in Pedri’s.

This is a true test of this team’s identity. It’s a test of Flick’s managerial skills, of how to manufacture control in the absence of his metronome. If Barcelona manage it, they will have the Dutchman back for the run-in.

If not, the Blaugrana would have messed up this season, not because Frenkie got injured but because they couldn’t find a way to manage his absence when the going got tough, and that is never a good reflection on such a big club.