A member of the defensive ranks at La Liga champions Barcelona will not be available for the club’s next outing.
The player in question? Alejandro Balde.
Stopper Balde has for his part of course been forced to sit out each of Barcelona’s last three fixtures across all competitions.
As much comes owing to a knee injury suffered in training at the start of the month.
The 21-year-old has spent the weeks since working hard towards a return to competitive action, eager to wrestle back his place from the impressive Gerard Martín.
Hope had begun to spread over recent days that as much could even come on Thursday, after Balde was spotted back in group training this week.
This, however, will not be the case.
Drawn on his defensive star’s status to face Real Oviedo tomorrow evening during his pre-match press conference, Hansi Flick admitted:
“Balde will not be called up tomorrow. We expect him to be back on Sunday against Real Sociedad.”
Conor Laird – GSFN
