Revealed: The reason for late change to Barcelona line-up for Celta Vigo clash | OneFootball

After the disappointing result in Belgium earlier in the week, Barcelona returned to winning ways on Sunday with an impressive 4-2 victory over Celta Vigo. They did so despite being forced to make a late change to their starting line-up, which saw Marc Casado make way for Dani Olmo.

Olmo had not started for Barcelona since the 4-1 defeat to Sevilla prior to the October international break, during which he was confirmed to have picked up an injury. He was not planned to return to the line-up at Balaidos, but minutes before kick-off, it was confirmed that he had come into the side.

Image via Alex Caparros/Getty Images

He replaced Casado, who had been pencilled in to make his third start in a row. The 22-year-old midfielder picked up an injury in the warm-up, with Sport revealing that felt a puncture in the adductor, which meant that he was unable to be involved against Celta.

Barcelona have scheduled medical tests for Casado, as they seek to understand the severity of his injury. It is expected that a clear picture will be known in the next 24 hours, but they will be desperate for good news.

Image via Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Barcelona facing crisis in central midfield

Pedri and Gavi are already out for Barcelona, and on top of this, Frenkie de Jong was shown a late red card against Celta. If Casado is confirmed to be missing for the next few weeks at least, it would mean that he only has Marc Bernal as a specialist central midfielder for the visit of Athletic Club, which is the Catalans’ first match after the international break.

And given that Flick has been very careful with Bernal since he returned from 12 months out with an ACL injury, it is almost certain that he would not start against Athletic. As such, Barcelona will have to hope that Casado is okay, otherwise they will need to experiment in the midfield area.