Madrid: Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta will be out for between six and eight weeks, the Spanish champions confirmed here Sunday after he suffered serious knee ligament damage Saturday in a 3-2 win at Valencia.
Iniesta was stretchered from the field in tears after just 14 minutes, but fears he could be sidelined for months were eased by tests upon his return to Barcelona.
“After the first diagnosis carried out at Mestalla, the tests in Barcelona have shown the extent of the injury,” Barca said in a statement. “The time out is between six and eight weeks.” Iniesta could now return in time to face Real Madrid in the first El Clasico of the season, December 3. However, he will miss Barca’s Champions League trips to Manchester City and Celtic next month.
Coach Luis Enrique was incensed when Valencia’s Argentine midfielder Enzo Perez escaped without even a yellow card for the challenge that caused the injury.
“We saw very clearly from the tackle it was an injury, and a serious one,” said Enrique. We were surprised, there wasn’t a yellow card.”
Barca’s season has been plagued by injuries so far as Lionel Messi has just returned from nearly a month out, whilst Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba were injured in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Manchester City.
Messi has returned in fine form, though. He scored two goals, the second one from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time which helped Barca to the top of the La Liga table. Luis Suarez got the other goal.
Munir El Haddadi, who is on loan from Barcelona, and Rodrigo Moreno scored goals to keep Valencia in the match before Messi got the winner.
Agence France-Presse
