Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, Pedri get injured vs Athletic
Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong and Pedri got injured in the first half of Sunday’s LaLiga draw with Athletic Club at San Mames.
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De Jong, Pedri exit first half
De Jong had to be stretchered in the 26th minute after landing awkwardly on his ankle.
Meanwhile, Pedri also left before the break after sustaining third hamstring injury of the campaign.
De Jong spent two months on the sidelines with a sprained ankle, while Pedri missed three weeks at the turn of the year with a muscle injury.
Huge blow for Barca
Both De Jong and Pedri will undergo scans on Monday.
However, Barca coach Xavi Hernandez is wary about his players especially that they are already missing multiple games this season.
“The injuries affected the team because Frenkie and Pedri are two important players for how we want to play,” Xavi said in his post-game news conference.
“Pedri’s been coming good again [after his last injury], he trained really well this week. It’s such a shame. Frenkie, too. He is heavily involved in our play. They are two big losses.”
“It doesn’t look good. We missed them today, and we are going to miss them. Hopefully it’s for less time than expected.”
The match against Athletic ended in a 0-0 draw.
Barcelona are in third place on 58 points, eight points behind LaLiga leaders Real Madrid.
“It was a big opportunity wasted,” added Xavi
“We did not play well. Maybe the first 15 minutes was OK, but the rest wasn’t. We can’t be satisfied. We have to be self-critical, and we should have taken a step forward.”
“It’s true this is a tough place to come, but we are disappointed because it wasn’t how we wanted to play. Perhaps the only positive is how we defended.”
In addition to De Jong and Pedri, Barcelona are also currently without Alejandro Balde, Marcos Alonso, and Ferran Torres due to injuries.
