The twenty injuries that Barça could have avoided

BarcelonaInjuries are once again hitting Barça during another international break. Players called up by their respective national teams are frequently subject to misfortune for the Blaugrana squad. Concerns are growing with a situation that is currently as unsustainable as it is unprecedented. Barely two months into the season, Hansi Flick's team has already sent a total of ten players to the infirmary: Marc André ter Stegen, Pablo Gavi, Juan García, Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Raphinha Dias, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, and Robert Lewandowski.

The latest absences during this international break leave the German coach quite exposed for the duel against Girona on Saturday (4:15 p.m.), with only two forwards completely available (Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji), one of whom is recovering from physical problems in his pubis (Lamines Yamal) because, as Barça announced this Friday, the Valencian will be out "as a precaution, due to the discomfort derived from the overload in the hamstring muscle of his left leg that he suffered during the international break."

International matches 'kill' seasons

It seems as if fate has been written for Barça every time its players are called up for the national teams. With a limited squad for years, the club suffers even more ravages from international breaks. The data is devastating: since 2021, Barça has suffered a total of twenty injuries during international training camps, figures that support and make reality the term "FIFA virus," an even more contagious plague for the Blaugrana team. First on that list was Sergiño Dest, who was injured during a match with the United States during the September break. Shortly after, in October of the same year, Ronald Araujo suffered a muscle problem with Uruguay.

The following season, the bad luck continued: in September 2022, Araujo, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Kounde, and Memphis Depay returned with unfavorable medical reports from their autumn international commitments. The result: poor results in the Champions League and a defeat in the Clásico. Luckily, at the end of that season the team ended up celebrating the League with Xavi Hernández on the bench, not without regretting more inconveniences with De Jong and Christensen in the unemployment in March 2023.

The 2023-24 season was also relentless. In the fall, Balde was demoted to Spain in October, and Gavi suffered the worst injury ever for a footballer: a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and an associated injury to the lateral meniscus. The Andalusian suffered the fracture during the international break in November and still suffers from problems in the same joint, to the point that he has required specific surgery again. In the summer of 2024, Pedri culminated a highly irregular season due to muscle imbalances (the result of overexerting himself from playing matches as a teenager) with the European Championship, in which he injured his knee. Araujo also failed to hold out and finished the Copa América with a muscle injury that forced him to undergo surgery. The Uruguayan didn't return until January 2025.

Discomfort with players who had been warned

In the 2024-25 campaign, the first with Flick in charge of Barça, Fermín López, fresh from the European Championship and the Olympic Games, suffered a muscle injury with the Spanish U-21 team, while Lamine Yamal went down in October against Denmark due to an overuse injury. In March, Pau Cubarsí requested a substitute for Luis de la Fuente due to ankle discomfort during the match against the Netherlands. And in June, Gerard Martín, one of the pleasant surprises of the season, left the U-21 team due to a dislocated right hand that required surgery. As if it were a never-ending cycle, Flick's second season at Barcelona couldn't have started worse: Lamine Yamal went down with groin problems in the first break, and Olmo and Lewandowski have also been injured due to the direct impact of international football.

In these last two cases, according to ARA, the jinx is compounded by some discomfort among the Barça coaching staff due to what is considered a point of imprudence in the players' workload management. Olmo, very prone to muscle fatigue, will be out for three weeks, in part because he forced himself to play against Georgia in the training session beforehand. Meanwhile, Lewandowski played a significant amount of minutes injured during the Lithuania-Poland match a few days ago and will be in the infirmary for four to five weeks. Once again, it will be Barça who will be exposed to poor results due to a lack of players.