Barcelona will have been delighted to advance in the Champions League on Wednesday night, but they’ve now lost Sergio Busquets to injury.
The Catalan giants secured a 3-0 win over Chelsea at the Nou Camp in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League clash, prevailing 4-1 on aggregate.
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In turn, they remain on course for a treble this season, as they continue to lead the way in La Liga and have a Copa del Rey final to look forward to next month.
However, as noted by Mundo Deportivo, they will have to make do without Busquets for their next two games at least, after the Spaniard was diagnosed with a fracture in his foot during the win over Chelsea.
That in turn means he will now be expected to miss league meetings with Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla this month, although he’s helped by the fact that there is an international break and so the amount of games he will miss could be limited.
Mundo Deportivo also suggest that Busquets could miss the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals which is scheduled to be played on either April 3 or 4, and so it is a major blow for Ernesto Valverde and his side as they’ll be hoping he doesn’t suffer any setbacks.
It’s a relief from a Spain point of view though, as the last thing that coach Julen Lopetegui wants at this stage of the season is to suffer any long-term absences with the World Cup this summer in mind.
Busquets, 29, has made 41 appearances in all competitions so far this season which shows just how important he is to Barcelona, and they’ll be desperate to have him back available as soon as possible next month, while also being careful not to force him back too soon.