Barcelona have suffered a fresh injury blow ahead of Sunday's La Liga clash against Real Madrid, with Jules Kounde missing training on Thursday and Friday due to a knock.
Kounde has been a vital player for the Catalan giants during the 2025-26 campaign, featuring on 12 occasions in all competitions, scoring once and providing one assist in the process.
The France international was in line to feature at right-back for Barcelona in El Clasico.
However, according to Sport, Kounde's participation in the match is now in huge doubt, with the defender unable to train on either Thursday or Friday due to a knock.
The 26-year-old is yet to be completely ruled out of El Clasico, but the fact that he has missed back-to-back training sessions at this stage of the team's preparations is far from ideal.
Barcelona defender Jules Kounde on January 18, 2025
Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Jules Kounde a 'major doubt' for El Clasico
Should Kounde fail to recover, then it is extremely likely that Eric Garcia will feature at right-back.
Barcelona had been hoping to recover Raphinha for the match, but the Brazil international's involvement on Sunday has been placed into doubt after he missed training on Friday.
According to Sport, Raphinha was present at the club's training base on Friday morning, but he left before the session started, suggesting that the attacker may have had a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Joan Garcia, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gavi, Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo are definitely out of the match, but Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal have both recently recovered from injury problems.
Barcelona will now be sweating over the fitness of both Raphinha and Kounde ahead of Sunday's match.
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal in action on August 31, 2025
Defeat to Real Madrid would be damaging for Barcelona
The La Liga title will not be won or lost this weekend, but a defeat would leave Barcelona five points off the top of the La Liga table, which is a significant gap, even at this stage of the campaign.
Real Madrid have been a winning machine this season, and with Barcelona looking shaky at the back, there is a chance for Los Blancos to cement their spot at the summit heading towards the end of the year.
Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick will speak to the media on Saturday ahead of El Clasico, with the German expected to be quizzed on both Kounde and Raphinha.
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