Barcelona hit with another injury hammer blow as defender is ruled out for five weeks

Barcelona not only failed to convince fans with another narrow win over Barbastro in the Copa del Rey, but it also cost them another significant injury. Inigo Martinez spent just 10 minutes on the pitch before he was forced to the ground, and limped off again.

Martinez had been out of action since an injury suffered in the warm-up ahead of Barcelona‘s 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid on the third of December, as he recovered from another muscle problem. Returning to training this week, Xavi Hernandez introduced him to sharpen his instincts ahead of the Spanish Supercup this week.

However Martinez felt a sharp pain in his right leg, which will rule him out for four to five weeks, say Sport. The only, very faint, silver lining is that it is not the same leg as he had injured before. The injury will rule him out of the Supercup, as well as the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, and potentially the quarter-finals too. In La Liga, he will definitely miss a trip to Real Betis, Villarreal, Osasuna and Alaves.

His return is likely to be either against Granada at Montjuic on the 11th of February, or against Celta Vigo a week later at Balaidos. Crucially, Barcelona face Napoli in the Champions League just three days later on the 21st, when Martinez should in theory have recovered.

The Catalan daily go on to point out that Martinez will at a minimum take the number of games he has missed this season to 15 matches, just seven short of the 22 he missed for Athletic last season with various problems. One of the concerns about signing the veteran defender was his age (32) combined with his injury history. Thus far, it is depriving Xavi of one of his best defenders.