Iniesta's hamstring adds to Barca injury woes
Xinhua, September 30, 2015 Adjust font size:
FC Barcelona's narrow 2-1 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night has come at a heavy price for the current European Champions.
After being outplayed by their German rivals for much of the game, goals from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez in the 80th and 82nd minutes gave Barca all three points, but by then coach Luis Enrique had seen another key name added to Barca's injury list.
Barca went into the game knowing that Leo Messi will be out for around two months with a knee injury, while Rafinha is sidelined for the rest of the season after needing an operation on his cruciate ligament.
That list grew longer on Tuesday when Andres Iniesta limped off after an hour with a hamstring injury.
Tests later showed he has torn the muscle and the talented but fragile midfielder will be out of action for between 4-6 weeks.
Like Messi he should be fit for the 'Clasico' away to Real Madrid in late November, but his injury leaves just Suarez and Neymar, plus youngsters Sandro Ramirez and Munir to carry the Barca attack over the coming month.
"I don't know why we have so many injuries, but that is the way it is;" said Luis Enrique, who said the injury to Iniesta was "terrible news."
"These are problems that we have to get over and we will try to show everyone that we can overcome this," he continued.
The coach said no one player should bear the weight of replacing Messi, saying it was a "100 percent team game."
"Today we saw the attitude the players have... everyone worked hard right to the end of the game and it is like that in every match," concluded the Barca coach.
Barca's next game sees them travel to face Sevilla on Saturday afternoon. Endi