Flick will be without Pedri for the upcoming matches

BarcelonaPedri González López has suffered an injury. The Canary Islands midfielder, a key player in Hansi Flick's Barcelona system, has a tear in the distal biceps femoris muscle of his left leg, which will keep him out of action for the next few weeks. This Wednesday he did specific work in the gym to begin his recovery from this physical problem. of Sunday's classic at the Bernabéu, in which he ended up exhausted and sent off for two yellow cards. He will miss Elche's visit to Montjuïc this weekend due to suspension and, at least, the two matches before the international break against Club Brugge in the Champions League and Celta Vigo in La Liga. One positive takeaway is that Luis de la Fuente will almost certainly not call him up for the upcoming matches with the Spanish national team against Georgia and Turkey.

Pedri's absence adds to the already known absences of Raphinha Dias, Pablo Gavi, Marc-André ter Stegen, and Andreas Christensen. Looking ahead to the match against Elche, Flick is working to recover Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, and even Joan Garcia. However, the absence of the midfielder from Tegueste is practically the most significant for the German coach, who has started him in all thirteen official matches that Barça has played so far in La Liga and the Champions League. No other player in the Barcelona squad has played as many minutes as Pedri, the team's playmaker and prime example of positional play. The clearest alternatives to his absence are two homegrown players, Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal. The former finished the Clásico as an accidental center-back, while the latter has yet to start a match since... the serious knee injury he suffered in September 2024.

This injury to Pedri, officially confirmed by Barça an hour after this newspaper published it, is his first after a flawless season in this regard. The Canary Islander gained muscle reliability thanks to substantial changes in his diet and training. Modifying certain habits helped him greatly to put behind him three seasons (all three under Xavi Hernández) marked by injuries and relapses in his quadriceps. However, his last physical setback was a knee sprain suffered at the European Championship. Now the problem is muscular again, and will force him to stop playing for a good part of November. Flick and his staff They want him back at 100% for the Chelsea-Barça match on the 25th, a top-tier European fixture. If not, they will wait for him to reappear sometime in December.