Following the 3-1 win over Celta Vigo on Tuesday night, Barcelona edged closer to clinching the second place in the 2021/22 La Liga standings.
The Catalans will look to get the job done when they face off against Getafe away from home this upcoming Sunday. But they will have to do so without a host of their first-team players with injuries and suspensions wreaking havoc on manager Xavi Hernandez’s plans.
Indeed, the 42-year-old was already missing the services of players like Pedri, Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Nico Gonzalez and Sergino Dest due to injuries.
Pedri has been out since mid-April due to a hamstring tear, while Nico has been ruled out with a toe fracture he picked up late last month. Roberto, on the other hand, has not featured since October last year, as he faced a setback in his recovery recently.
Meanwhile, Dest is also out for the season with a hamstring injury he picked up in the loss to Rayo Vallecano, less than two weeks after having returned from an injury layoff.
As for Pique, he has been suffering from an adductor issue and had been playing with discomfort for a while now. But with his situation worsening recently, he has been sidelined.
And, with these five players already unavailable, Barcelona will now have to make do without four more players for the upcoming game against Getafe following the win over Celta Vigo.
Ronald Araujo is unlikely to feature on Sunday after he picked up a concussion following an unfortunate clash of heads with Gavi in the second half, due to which the Uruguayan had to be stretchered off and taken to the hospital right away.
While those are all the injury issues, Barça will have to cope without three key players in Frenkie de Jong, Jordi Alba and Eric Garcia due to suspensions as the trio picked up yellow cards on Tuesday night, ruling them out for the next La Liga encounter.
In effect, Barcelona will be missing a total of nine players when they travel to Coliseum Alfonso Perez on Sunday hoping to seal the second spot. It will certainly be interesting to see the team that Xavi picks, given the number of absentees for the trip.
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