Barcelona's Griezmann suffers injury scare in first appearance
The France forward, who joined this month from Atlético Madrid, was on the end of a heavy challenge by Chelsea's Jorginho in Japan.
Antoine Griezmann's first appearance for Barcelona saw the France forward survive something of an injury scare.
Heavy challenge leaves Griezmann needing medical attention
Midway through the opening half of Barça's Rakuten Cup clash with Chelsea in Japan, Griezmann's knee was the subject of major concern after he was on the end of a heavy challenge by Blues midfielder Jorginho.
Clearly in some pain, he required medical attention that led the game to be halted for a couple of minutes, and it appeared that the 28-year-old, who joined Barça from Atlético Madrid earlier this month in a 120-million-euro deal, was in danger of having his maiden Blaugrana outing cut short.
Plays on before being replaced at the break by Rafinha
Thankfully for Barça head coach Ernesto Valverde, however, Griezmann was finally able to continue, before being replaced by Rafinha Alcántara at half time.
Abraham, Barkley goals give Chelsea victory in Saitama
Goals by Chelsea's Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley meant that Griezmann made a losing start to his Camp Nou career as Frank Lampard's men won out 2-1 in Saitama, with Ivan Rakitic firing in a late consolation for Barça.
"It hurt...but I'll be fine for the next game"
"It hurt a bit when it happened, and I'm sure [it'll hurt] more tomorrow," Griezmann said post-match when asked about the Jorginho incident. "But I'll be fine for the next game. It was a nasty challenge, but at the end of the day that's football."