If losing to the eternal rival at the weekend wasn’t bad enough for Barcelona supporters, the news that Pedri is now injured will be a bitter blow.
The mischievous amongst us might suggest that he was banned anyway and could do without another international break where he’ll be flogged to within an inch of his life by Luis de la Fuente, so there is a silver lining after all.
That neatly bypasses the fact that yet another player has been injured in the course of their daily duties.
Something is wrong
behind the scenes, something is amiss.
You don’t have so many players out of action at the same time without their being some sort of explanation.
Are Hansi Flick and his backroom staff working the players too hard? Should there be more rotation than currently?
Those and so many other questions need to be answered because the sheer amount of injuries to key players is far beyond what would normally occur in a campaign.
That Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo were back in training on Wednesday shouldn’t deflect from the issue at hand.
Yes, Barcelona want to win every game, and with Real Madrid surging ahead in La Liga there’s a cogent argument that the Catalans need to win.
However, surely what’s happened over the past few weeks is enough of a hint that something has to change.
As to exactly what that will be is for the management to decide, but they’ll need to do so pretty sharpish to stop the first team from dropping like flies.
There’s been no time limit put on Pedri’s return, and with Lamine Yamal clearly still suffering, it’s vital that the backroom staff get to grips with things.
There are important Champions League games coming up and league assignments that are arguably more important because Barca can ill afford to drop further behind what is, frankly, an average Real Madrid side who we made look like the Harlem Globetrotters.
Back when Flick managed Bayern Munich, there was a second season injury crisis at the Bavarian giants too.
Such a high intensity way of playing, as well as training sessions to mimic matches, was always going to come back and bite the German, so whatever worked for him and his staff back then could surely be implemented now?
Barcelona’s season could actually depend on it.
What do you think is behind Barca’s injury crisis? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
