Aug 27, 2024, 7:46 PM ET
Barcelona fear their 17-year-old Marc Bernal may have suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the game against Rayo Vallecano, according to a source.
Barcelona are suspected of having midfielder Marc Bernal suffer an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano and could miss most of the season, a source has told ESPN.
Bernal, 17, was forced off in the dying minutes of the game in Vallecas as Barca came from behind to make it three wins from three to start the new LaLiga campaign.
However, Bernal’s injury marred the victory and coach Hansi Flick said the youngster would undergo tests on Wednesday but confirmed he feared the worst.
“It’s a sad victory because Marc Bernal is injured and things aren’t looking good,” Flick said at the post-match press conference.
“We have to wait and see how complicated it is. We won, it’s good, but when you look at the dressing room nobody is happy.
“It’s not good. He had a fantastic game, at 17 years old, what a performance. It hurts.”
Bernal has been one of the positive aspects of Barca’s bright start to the season, making his debut for the club in the opening-day win over Valencia after impressing Flick in pre-season.
Playing at the base of midfield, the Spanish youth international is one of three 17-year-olds to have started all three of Blaugrana’s league games so far, alongside defender Pau Cubarsí and winger Lamine Yamal.
This creates further problems in midfield for Barca, with Frenkie de Jong and Gavi also out with injuries and Ilkay Güngodan returning to Manchester City last week.
However, Flick insists the club are well covered in the position and will not make any panic signings with the transfer window set to close on Friday.
“This is very close to the game,” he added when asked if Barça would resort to the transfer market to cover a possible long-term injury to Bernal.
“Now we have to think about everything, but at the end of the day we have a lot of players. We have one more game before the international break and then hopefully the players will be back. We can cover the number 6 (position) without any problem.”
Before Bernal’s injury, Dani Olmo enjoyed a dream debut for Barca, coming off the bench to score the winner in the 82nd minute after Pedri had cancelled out Unai López’s opener.
The victory put the Catalan side at the top of the league table with nine points out of a possible nine, which is their best start to a league campaign since the 2018-19 season.
