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La Liga giants Barcelona will be forced to make do without a headline member of the club’s attacking ranks in each of their next two fixtures.
This comes amid confirmation that captain and leader Raphinha will not be risked with a premature return to competitive duties.
Frontman Raphinha for his part set alarm bells sounding across Catalunya’s capital late last month. After being forced into a premature departure from international duty with his native Brazil, the 29-year-old was revealed to be dealing with a muscular problem.
With the issue described as a minor one, the initial expectation was that Raphinha would be given the medical green light in time to play his part against Getafe this weekend.
As alluded to above, however, with the former Leeds United man yet to return to training, this will not prove to be the case.
Instead, as confirmed by Barcelona boss Hansi Flick during his pre-match press conference:
“Raphinha does not have an injury… but we have to be careful because last year he had three injuries, so we need to take care of him. He won’t be available tomorrow or against Galatasaray.”
> 🚨⚠️ Raphinha will be OUT for Barcelona’s next two games, confirms Hansi Flick.“Raphinha does not have an injury… but we have to be careful because last year he had three injuries as we need to take care of him”.
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> “He won’t be available tomorrow or against Galatasaray”. [pic.twitter.com/K1cQ0HdCcS](https://t.co/K1cQ0HdCcS)