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Barcelona squad update: 16 injured players this season
Xavi can’t catch a break as players have constantly been queuing up for treatment outside the physio room.
Staff at Barcelona are on red alert again. The story begins in November 2021 when Xavi arrived with the wish to change the entire structure of the club. After completing a ‘clean-up’, he placed Ricard Pruna at the head of the medical team and Iván Torres as physical trainer of the first team with the hope and idea that the new levels of organisation would put an end to the constant plague of injuries that had crept into Camp Nou.
It is clear that his changes not worked. The blaugrana have suffered 16 serious injuries so far this season. This does not include minor problems suffered by players such as Christensen or Lamine Yamal. Only 6 players - Iñaki Peña, Ferran Torres, Oriol Romeu, João Félix, Gündogan and Fermín - have escaped injury.
What is going wrong at Barcelona?
Of the 16 injuries for the LaLiga side to contend with, as many as nine have been muscular. Araújo suffered an injury to the hamstring in his left leg on August 1 and was sidelined for a month. Iñigo Martínez, who began the season on the bench after undergoing surgery on his right fascia, has had two muscle tears - the second one coming on the day he returned against Barbastro in the Copa del Rey.
Pedri has suffered another two serious issues and Raphinha went down in the Super Cup semi-final for the second time this season. Sergi Roberto has also been out for a month due to a muscle tear and the last domino to fall was Alejandro Balde.
Barcelona’s injury plague
But there have been injuries of all types and forms. Both Ter Stegen and Marcos Alonso had to undergo back surgery, with the former still out; Koundé injured the internal ligament in his left knee; Gavi ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee; Cancelo strained the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee in the first game of the year at Las Palmas; Lewandowski sprained his left ankle badly and De Jong was injured with an ankle ligament issue.
As is often the case when injuries are concerned, Xavi’s training sessions have been the topic of debate for some time. There are voices within the club that criticise the low intensity of the training sessions and a few days ago the amount of rest that the coach gave to his players was also discussed. The overload of matches does not make it easy for a team to plan the tight schedule, but it is certain that the number of injuries is skyrocketing. One more cause for concern at Montjuïc.
Barcelona’s next game is against Villarreal at Montjuïc on Saturday 27 January. Kick-off is at 12:30pm ET / 9:30am PT.
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