Barcelona are currently in something of a dip at the moment following defeat in El Clasico to Real Madrid. While they managed to beat Real Sociedad last Saturday, since Jude Bellingham scored in the 67th minute against the Blaugrana, their performance has dropped dramatically.
However it has been some time since they were playing well too. That in no small part has been down to injuries, but with Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde and Pedri back, Barcelona are still struggling, and their comfortable wins over Real Betis and Royal Antwerp look a long way in the distance.
Just how important is he for Barcelona? 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/er51KZWJa1
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 9, 2023
MD point out that Frenkie de Jong is the last injured player that Barcelona are waiting for, but argue that he could perhaps be the most crucial. Barcelona started the season with six wins and a draw, all of which de Jong was present for. Since the Dutchman went down, the results have not been the same, with Barcelona losing twice, drawing twice and winning five times in the nine games since.
No doubt de Jong’s absence is one of several factors, but it speaks to his importance, with the likes of Oriol Romeu and Ilkay Gundogan looking much less assured without him. It is also true that the fixture list has become much more demanding since he was injured too. De Jong is unlikely to be back before the Blaugrana face Alaves this weekend, in desperate need of a result. He is due to become a father for the first time any day now, and is not yet 100%, meaning they will only risk him after the international break.
Image via Javier Borrego / Afp7 / Europa Press
Frenkie and Pedri are the key to everything. Things will look quite different when they’re both back playing fulltime.
No sorry not for me im not buying the players out injured excuses for xavis failures, answer me this people does all the other football clubs in world football today get players out injured during a season or is it just fc barcelona ? also since when did a club like fc barcelona start depending on 1 or 2 individual players being available or not to actually play football properly ? i don’t know about the rest of use but i always thought football was a team game not a game of individuals ? the exceptions obviously being the likes of messi,ronaldinho,cruyff,maradona but apart from these very special 4 individuals i thought the idea,the plan was to go out and bring in strong,reliable,quality players your koundes,Lewandowskis,christensens,gundogans to build a strong competitive squad so that when players did get injured we have depth and quality replacements ready to step in and isn’t this why we used all these financial levers and sales ect to enable us to do exactly this no/yes ?????