Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde believes Ousmane Dembele’s inexperience may have worsened the extent of his hamstring injury.
The French forward is set to miss four months of action with the injury sustained in Saturday’s victory at Eibar, with TV images later showing he was not moving easily in the pre-game warm-up.
“He's never had muscle problems in the past, so perhaps he doesn't have the experience to recognise problems which could become worse,” Valverde told reporters.
“Because he is fast, it's the movement he made which was the worst thing for the muscle.
“Maybe a more experienced player would have known not to make that movement.
“Against Eibar? There are several players that can play that position – we have Deulofeu, Aleix Vidal, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes.
“There's also the B team. We will look for alternatives to put together a side.
“Vidal's a good player who can play at right-back or further forward, so he's a useful player to have.
“Performances in training and in games are what decisions are based on and Arda, too, is very much a squad player who is here to play.”
