Barcelona have been hit by another injury blow after Ferran Torres had to be substituted just six minutes into their 3-0 win over Deportivo Alaves on Sunday.
The former Manchester City winger was seen clutching his hamstring and had to be replaced by Eric Garcia, though his departure had little effect on Barca’s attack as they ran out convincing winners thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s first-half hat-trick.
It means Barca remain three points clear at the top of La Liga, but La Blaugrana now have another fitness worry to concern themselves with a number of first-team squad members already sidelined.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, manager Hansi Flick revealed: “We still don’t know what injury Ferran has, but it looks muscular. We’ll see with the medical tests tomorrow. The injury is worrying. We don’t have many options in attack, but we’ll see what happens.”
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez, Gavi and Marc Bernal are all currently unavailable, while Frenkie de Jong has only just returned to the fray, having not played since April before his two substitute appearances against Young Boys and Alaves.
Flick will now wait for his key players to return after the October international break, with a number of Spanish stars called up for Luis de la Fuente’s squad. Torres, however, will not be among them.
Spain have already confirmed the 24-year-old will not play in their Nations League fixtures with Denmark and Serbia, calling up Bryan Zaragoza and Bryan Gil of Osasuna and Girona respectively.
What we know
- Ferran Torres was substituted early in Barcelona’s win over Alaves on Sunday
- Winger ruled out of Spain’s squad for games against Denmark and Serbia
- Hansi Flick already has a long injury list.