(Football news) It's the international break in football and while it is an exciting time for players as they get to represent their nations, clubs have never been keen on the period. International break always brings bad news of injuries to players which significantly affects the club. Barcelona are facing a crisis situation at the moment as in the past couple of days 4 players have injured themselves during international duty and the coming run of fixtures is possibly the most important run in Barcelona's season as it includes an El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu. The players who have suffered a setback are Ronald Araujo, Frenkie De Jong, Memphis Depay and Jules Kounde.
Uruguay were playing a friendly against Iran in preparation for the FIFA World Cup. Aruajo started at centre back and only lasted 40 seconds before limping off the field with an injury. Aruajo has been an integral part of the Barcelona side, starting 7 off out of 8 games this season and playing 90 minutes in 6 of them. The defender in his short career has struggled with injuries here and there. He is likely to miss 2 to 3 weeks of action due to the injury. It will be a race against time to see if can get fit before the El Clasico on 16th October. Araujo is the only defender in the Barcelona team who is best equipped to keep Vinicius Jr in control.
To make matters worse, Jules Kounde also picked up an injury in France's game against Austria. The defender who played at right centre back had to be brought off after 23 minutes. Out of all the injuries, this one looks the most serious and it could even put his participation in the World Cup in danger. Kounde and Araujo both play centre back and left back for Barcelona. Now without both of them Barcelona will be significantly weaker in defence. The Frenchman has started 5 out of the 6 games for Barcelona, playing the 90 minutes in all of them. Barcelona do have Sergi Roberto and Hector Bellerin at right back while Andreas Christensen, Gerard Pique and Eric Garcia can cover the centre back position. However Kounde and Araujo are two of their best defenders.
The match between Barcelona and Poland brought a double blow for Barcelona and thankfully it wasn't Robert Lewandowski. Netherlands started with Memphis Depay and Frenkie De Jong but both of them had to be substituted due to injuries. De Jong has injured his thigh and has left the Netherlands camp to return to Barcelona. The injury didn't appear to be serious with manager Louis Van Gal saying that the substitution was precautionary. De Jong hasn't been a regular starter for Barcelona and the international break would've been a good opportunity for him to show what he has got but it wasn't meant to be. Depay's injury on the other hand looked more serious as he injured his hamstring. His absence won't be as catastrophic as the others as Barcelona have a lot of alternatives in his position.
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