Barcelona may have booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 7-2 victory over Newcastle United on Wednesday, but it was far from a perfect evening for Hansi Flick. The main issues are injury-related, with Joan Garcia and Eric Garcia both having been forced off at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Eric had to be withdrawn after appearing to suffer a relapse of the hamstring injury that he’s been dragging in recent weeks, with namesake Joan injured his calf in the closing stages of Wednesday’s match.
In regards to the latter, an early injury prognosis has been revealed. Despite stating that the injury was “not serious”, it has been reported by Diario AS that Garcia is poised to miss the next 2-3 weeks of action.
If that is the case, Garcia would miss this weekend’s home match against Rayo Vallecano, while he would be doubtful for the double-header against Atletico Madrid after the international break. Barcelona travel to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in La Liga action on the 4th of April, before facing Simeone’s side again days later in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
International break comes at a good time for Barcelona
The fact that the international break comes after this weekend is a relief for the La Liga leaders. They expect Alejandro Balde, Jules Kounde and Frenkie de Jong to be fit in the next couple of weeks, and this should also be the case for Eric, whose hamstring issue does not appear to be a major problem.
Garcia may be the last to return, which would be a big blow consider how impactful he has been since arriving from Espanyol last summer. It’ll be interesting to see whether he’s fine immediately after the break, but it’s certain that Wojciech Szczesny will be between the sticks for this weekend’s match against Rayo.
