Frenkie de Jong and Pedri from Barcelona were hurt against Athletic Club.

After both Pedri and Frenkie de Jong were substituted during the first half of Sunday’s La Liga match at San Mames between Athletic Club and Barcelona, Barcelona is now dealing with a midfield injury dilemma.
After falling awkwardly on his ankle in the 26th minute, De Jong was carried out on a stretcher. Earlier this season, the Netherlands international’s injured ankle kept him out of action for two months.
Meanwhile, Pedri suffered his third muscle injury of the season just before the half. He was sidelined for two months in August due to a hamstring strain, and he lost three weeks at the beginning of the year due to another muscular condition.
On Monday, both players will have scans, but according to Barça coach Xavi Hernández, neither player seems to be in danger.
In his post-game press conference, Xavi said, “The injuries affected the team because Frenkie and Pedri are two important players for how we want to play.”
“After his most recent injury, Pedro has been improving; this week, he trained really well. What a shame. Frenkie as well. He plays a major role in our play. These are two significant defeats.It seems unprofessional. Both now and in the future, we will miss them. Hopefully it’s for shorter time than predicted.”
After a scoreless draw with Athletic, Barcelona’s day concluded in third position with 58 points, eight points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid.
Xavi went on, “It was a big opportunity wasted,” as Barça lost the chance to go up to second place ahead of Girona, who had lost to Mallorca earlier in the day, and close the gap on Madrid, who were held by Valencia on Saturday.
“Our play wasn’t very good. The first fifteen minutes or so would have been OK, but not the remainder. We are not content. We must be critical of ourselves. It was time for us to move ahead.Although we understand that this is a difficult position to be, we are sad since this wasn’t how we had hoped to play. The way we defended could be the only thing that went well.”
The biggest drawback, however, was losing Pedri and De Jong before important Champions League and La Liga matches before the end of March international break.
Gavi, a midfielder for Barça, tore his anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Spain in November, forcing him to miss the whole season.
After losing De Jong and Pedri in Bilbao, Xavi deployed rookie player Fermín López and center-back Andreas Christensen with Ilkay Gündogan.
With Barça scheduled to play the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 match against Napoli at the Olympic Stadium on March 12, Oriol Romeu is another possibility to play in the center of the field. In Italy, the opening leg finished in a draw.
Barça will play a La Liga match against Mallorca on Friday before traveling to Atletico Madrid, a team in the top four, on March 17.
Barça is now missing left backs Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso as well as forward Ferran Torres due to injury in addition to De Jong, Pedri, and Gavi.

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