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NATIONS LEAGUE

Sergio Busquets ruled out of Germany clash with knee injury

Spain midfielder Sergio Busquets sustained an injury in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland last week and the extent of the damage has now been confirmed.

Update:
Sergio Busquets ruled out of Germany clash with knee injury
Getty Images

Spain have confirmed Sergio Busquets has sustained a mild sprain to his left knee that will keep him out of Tuesday's Nations League clash with Germany. The Barcelona midfielder was injured during Spain's 1-1 draw with Switzerland at the weekend and was unable to take part in training on Sunday. After undergoing an MRI scan on Monday, the extent of the damage was revealed by the national team on their official Twitter account.

Crunch match against Germany

Busquets is definitely out of the home match against Germany, which La Roja need to win to top Group A4, and is considered a major doubt for Barça's LaLiga showdown with Atlético Madrid next Saturday. The 32-year-old has started all seven of Barca's league games this term and has appeared in all three Champions League matches.

His 321 passes in the opposition half in LaLiga this season has only been bettered by Frenkie de Jong (325), Sergio Canales (332) and team-mate Lionel Messi (332). However, Busquets' figures in other areas have dropped since last season, leading to calls for Miralem Pjanic to be given the nod in Ronald Koeman's starting line-up.

Busquets' passes-per-game figures are down from 93 per game last term to 80 this time around, while his number of dribbles (0.83 to 0.48) and touches (106 to 91) have also fallen.

Barcelona's busy schedule

Barça face Atlético and Osasuna in their next two LaLiga games, either side of a trip to Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.