Barcelona: Ernesto Valverde had to replace Ousmane Dembele just five minutes into Barcelona’s game against Celta Vigo at Balaidos.
The French forward hurt himself sprinting in the first minute, but remained on the pitch for four minutes more in discomfort.
It appears that the issue is a hamstring injury in his right leg and he’ll undergo further tests today.
With Barcelona facing Liverpool next Tuesday, this is a problem for Valverde.
On the pitch, his performances have generally been good, but the campaign hasn’t been a positive one for Dembele as he has fallen injured three times, which opened the door for Philippe Coutinho to take his place in the team.
Second-half goals from Maxi Gomez and Iago Aspas helped Celta Vigo beat an unrecognisable Barcelona side 2-0 on Saturday in La Liga. After wrapping up the league title last weekend, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde made 11 changes to the team that beat Liverpool in the Champions League in midweek with Tuesday’s semifinal second leg at Anfield in mind. Celta took full advantage of those changes to ease themselves closer to safety at the bottom of the table.
Gomez broke the deadlock in the 67th minute after Nestor Araujo had a goal correctly ruled out by VAR for offside. Aspas then completed the scoring in the final five minutes, firing home from the penalty spot after VAR spotted a Moussa Wague handball.
Despite giving the penalty away, Barca B defender Wague was Barca’s standout performer on a night of average displays from the majority of their players. It was also nice to see more minutes for the promising Riqui Puig and a league debut for Alex Collado.