Barcelona play the biggest game of their season so far when they face Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday afternoon, and there will be quite a few key pieces missing.
One of them is Hansi Flick,
who is banned for the red card he received against Girona last week, so his assistant Marcus Sorg will be on the sideline on Sunday and took charge of Saturday’s press conference as well, where he was asked about the status of three players.
The first is Jules Kounde, who missed a couple of training sessions this week due to a knock and is doubtful for the game; the second is Raphinha, who has suffered a relapse of his hamstring injury and will likely miss a few more weeks; the third is Ferran Torres, who hasn’t played in the last two games due to a hamstring issue and whose status as a starter is still in doubt.
Sorg confirmed that Raphinha is indeed missing, but left the door open for both Kounde and Ferran to start after they trained normally on Friday.
“Jules trained this morning, and we’ll have to wait and see how he reacts after training. We haven’t finalized tomorrow’s starting lineup.
“Any team would like to have Raphinha, but the situation is what it is. He’s injured. We’ll see if Ferran starts; we’ll decide tomorrow.”
Kounde’s presence is crucial given the threat of Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe down the left side of Madrid’s attack, and Ferran has been in excellent form all season and could play a big part if he’s able to start. Raphinha’s absence is a real shame given everything he does for the team with and without the ball and from a leadership standpoint, and to be without him for probably another month is a real blow.
