October 29
Barça Refuses to Take the Risk
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has received bad news ahead of this Saturday’s La Liga clash against Deportivo Alavés at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Barcelona is currently facing a significant defensive crisis following a series of recent injuries, including the confirmation that Xavi Espart will be sidelined for approximately seven weeks.
According to Spanish media, despite optimistic projections earlier in the week regarding Jules Koundé’s return, the French defender’s left ankle has not recovered sufficiently from the sprain he sustained during the match against Real Betis ten days ago. Consequently, he has been ruled out of the upcoming game against Alavés.
Koundé had already missed two recent defeats—a 4-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and a 1-2 defeat to Real Madrid in La Liga—due to this injury. The initial plan was for him to rejoin the squad mid-week and be available for the Alavés fixture.
However, after experiencing discomfort while putting on his boots on Wednesday, he trained apart from the rest of the group. With the match fast approaching, it was decided—by all parties involved—that he should not return to action yet, as pushing himself could risk aggravating the injury.
With Eric García, Andreas Christensen, and Xavi Espart all unavailable, Koundé’s return would have been a major boost for Flick. Instead, the manager will have to face Alavés with only João Cancelo, Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, and Alejandro Balde available as defensive options. Moving Bryan Farinas to the right-back position is one of the options for player rotation; another possibility—though less likely—is deploying Rodri or even Frenkie de Jong as a center-back.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old center-back Alex Campos, from the reserve team, has been training with the first team over the past few days in anticipation of potentially being included in the squad.
