FC Barcelona won their opening clash against Athletic Bilbao, but lost Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets to injuries.
FC Barcelona managed to hold off Athletic Bilbao, winning their opening La Liga game by a solitary Luis Suarez goal.
The club went into the game having lost a host of defensive players to suspension and injuries. There was no Jeremy Mathieu, Gerard Pique or Adriano. Joining this list are Dani Alves and Sergio Busqets who were injured in a bruising tie.
Alves out due to groin strain, Busquets injury just a knock
Dani Alves may have to face a spell out due to a groin strain while Busquets is reported to have a slight knock.
The Brazilian was forced off early in Barcelona’s victory over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, while midfielder Busquets was replaced in the second half following a collision with striker Aritz Aduriz.
FC Barcelona had to deploy Sergi Roberto at right-back owing to the departure of Martin Montoya in the summer and new signing Douglas remained injured as well.
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However, FC Barcelona released a statement describing Busquets’ knock as “nothing important”, even though Dani Alves has been diagnosed with a groin strain and could be out of action for some time.
Suarez not worried as injury mounts
Having scored the winner at Bilbao, Suarez expressed his relief at the arrival of the international break as the injury list increases for FC Barcelona.
However, the fiery Uruguayan is confident that the duo can be replaced with quality players ahead of the home match against Malaga on Saturday.
“We know we are walking a fine line, they are players who add a lot to the team, but we have a match ahead next week and we have quality players that can play in their place,” Suarez said as quoted by Goal.com.
“These games inspire us to win the league. We won the game and that’s what is important, we had to wait for the [right] moment to create some scoring chances.”