Pique and Alba miss out on Barcelona's trip to Sevilla
The two defenders are joined by Andres Iniesta, Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal and Jeremy Mathuieu on list of injured players in Luis Enrique's squad.
Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba will not recover in time to play for Barcelona against Sevilla as the pair close in on a return to full fitness.
Pique, who suffered an ankle injury during Barcelona's 4-0 victory over Manchester City two weeks ago, and Alba, who is still recovering from a muscle injury he sustained for Spain on international duty before returning and re-injuring the muscle in the same game against City in October, are both big losses to a team already struggling with injuries.
Neither player featured during Manchester City's victory over the Blaugranas during the week and Enrique will have to improvise yet again with Javier Mashcerano and Samuel Umtiti most likely to play in the centre of defence with Sergi Roberto and Lucas Digne flanking them.
Other injury concerns
Meanwhile, Arda Turan did not finish training yesterday either. He suffered an ankle injury the week before in the Catalan Supercup game against Epanyol and was suffering from an elbow injury prior to that although he did play against Manchester City as a substitute. It remains to be seen whether he will make the trip to Sevilla after this latest setback.
Luis Enrique is hoping to have his two star defenders for upcoming games against Malaga, Celtic, Real Sociedad, Hercules and Real Madrid. He can also count Andres iniesta, Jeremy Mathieu and Aleix Vidal among the absentees this weekend in the top of the table clash with Jorge Sampaoli's side.