Barcelona have confirmed that Ivan Rakitic picked up “a small tear” in his right calf against BATE Borisov on Wednesday.
The midfielder was replaced by Munir El Haddadi after just 20 minutes of La Blaugrana’s 3-0 Champions League win at Camp Nou, leading to concerns from TV3 that he was facing a month out and would miss the Clasico against Real Madrid on November 21 as a result.
However, Barca have attempted to play down the speculation by only ruling him out of Sunday’s La Liga game against Villarreal, although they admitted his recovery would “dictate his availability for the following matches”.
Rakitic joins Lionel Messi, Douglas and Rafinha on the Catalans’ treatment table, which has recently been eased by Andres Iniesta’s successful return to action.
