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Thigh injury sidelines Iniesta

Comment: 0 September 14th, 2011 by: admin

INJURIES are slowly creeping Barcelona’s way.

Andres Iniesta became the latest addition to the Catalans’ woes when the star midfielder injured his left thigh following their 2-2 draw against AC Milan in their Champions League group tussle last Tuesday.

The Spain international will be out for one month, leaving Barca with diminished midfield power as Alexis Sanchez is also sidelined by injury.

Iniesta tore a muscle as he dribbled past Milan defender Ignazio Abate in the 38^th minute. He pulled up after the run, leaned on an advertising board behind the goal line before motioning to the bench he could not play any longer. Cesc Fabregas was tapped to replace him.

Aside from Iniesta and Sanchez, another key player not seeing action for Barca due to injury is defender Gerard Pique.

Despite the latest setback on Iniesta, Barca coach Pep Guardiola is confident he would recover. “Andres is a player who has played such a high level for many years now, but sometimes these things happen. That’s just a common muscle injury,’’ he said.

In Iniesta’s absence, Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara are expected to fill up the playmaking void.

Barca welcomed back captain Carles Puyol against Milan after the latter recovered from a knee injury but his return had little effect to fortify the Catalans’ defence against the Italians, who managed to eke out a draw on Thiago Silva’s header three minutes into injury time.

Another thing worrying Guardiola is fullback Eric Abidal who had muscle cramps late in that game, Barca’s second sluggish stint after they surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 tie with Real Sociedad in the La Liga.

Guardiola said Puyol’s return is great news but admitted they are not yet adequate defence-wise. Abidal is still trying to get his rhythm back after recovering from a liver tumor surgery.

 

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