The nine Barcelona players who could miss the decisive Dynamo Kyiv match
Barcelona’s poor form has continued, even after Ronald Koeman was replaced by caretaker coach Sergi Barjuán. The Catalan club were held to a very disappointing 1-1 home draw against LaLiga strugglers Alavés on Saturday night, but they must forget about those dropped points quickly and focus on the huge Champions League away trip to take on Dynamo Kyiv.
Having lost their first two matches to Bayern Munich and Benfica, the double header against the Ukrainian side was always going to be key for Barça. They won the first game at home at the Camp Nou, edging it 1-0 thanks to a Gerard Piqué set piece goal, but now they must achieve another victory when they visit Ukraine on Tuesday.
The problem for Barcelona, who’ll likely still have Barjuán in the dugout, is that they have a major injury crisis. Here comes a look at the nine players who could miss out against Dynamo Kyiv.
Barcelona’s injuries in defence
With Ronald Araújo already out injured, it was terrible news for Barcelona when Gerard Piqué suffered a calf injury in the draw with Alavés. Now, he is set to miss the Dynamo Kyiv game too, although the dressing room leader will try to fight through the pain to make it. This should see Eric García start in central defence and, if Piqué can’t recover in time, the youngster could be partnered by Clement Lenglet.
𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 | @3gerardpique has a right calf strain. Further tests are pending to find out the exact extent of the strain pic.twitter.com/IDeru724Hn
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 30, 2021
Barcelona’s injuries in midfield
Pedri’s injury has been a problem for Barcelona for several weeks and he is set to miss out again, while Frenkie de Jong is also very unlikely to return in time and Sergi Roberto is on the Barça injury list too. This will leave Barcelona having to field some of their talented midfield kids alongside Sergio Busquets, with Gavi and Nico having to step up.
Barcelona’s injuries in attack
The area where Barcelona have the biggest headache is in attack. Ansu Fati didn’t play against Alavés as the club wanted to protect him from a minor knee issue so that he could make this fixture. But, they also now have a scare with Sergio Agüero as he suffered chest pains, while Ousmane Dembélé remains an injury doubt too and Martin Braithwaite is ruled out until the new year. This means Luuk de Jong is likely to start in Ukraine and that won’t fill Barcelona fans with much hope.
𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 | @aguerosergiokun reported chest discomfort and has been admitted to the hospital for a cardiac exam pic.twitter.com/7du9VIz5zO
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 30, 2021