The injury that could derail Barcelona's season

In a routine 3-1 walloping of Villarreal away on Wednesday – to add to the 3-1 walloping of Villarreal at home three weeks ago – Barcelona sauntered into the final of the Copa Del Rey. Lionel Messi did some Messi things, dispatching some splendid passes from his new spot on the wing. And Neymar, while scoring twice, was selfish in front of goal a few times, overlooking teammates and neglecting to run the up the 6-2 aggregate score further.

 

All in all, it was a pretty Barcelona way to spend a Wednesday night. Except that the Catalans suffered some collateral damage that may haunt the remainder of their season.

 

Holding midfielder Sergio Busquets was injured in the 40th minute, when the Yellow Submarine's Tomas Pina stuck his foot in Busi's ankle causing it to roll over. There didn't appear to be any malice in it, as Pina – who would later be sent off for a nasty scissor-tackle on Neymar – was passing the ball and followed through into Busquets, who was late on his challenge. But it looked gnarly all the same.

 

Busquets went down in a heap and was immediately stretchered off. On Thursday, tests confirmed an injury to the right ankle that will force him to miss Sunday's La Liga game against Rayo Vallecano. "His availability for the following games will depend on how well he recovers," Barcelona added in a statement.

 

Having Busquets out for a lengthy period would be fairly disastrous for Barca, which is still competing for silverware in La Liga, the Champions League and the aforementioned Copa Del Rey. Manager Luis Enrique, in an understatement, called the injury "today's bad news."

As BeIN Sports announcer Ray Hudson breathlessly pointed out, Busquets quietly plays an immensely important role for Barca, dropping back when the wing backs advance, shielding the defense and building up attacks with his unimpeachable passing from the base of midfield.

Here's the thing about his absence. Barca, currently in the midst of a transfer ban, has a thin squad as it is. And it's particularly thin in the holding midfielder role. With Alex Song on loan at West Ham United, the only viable alternatives to Busquets are badly needed elsewhere.

 

Javier Mascherano, who came to Barca from Liverpool as a holding midfielder, has spent the past few seasons as a central defender. He is indispensable there for the composure and sharp man-to-man marking he offers. But indeed, on Wednesday, Luis Enrique brought on Jeremy Mathieu to play in central defense so that Mascherano could move up a line. Mathieu, however, is actually a left back, but since Luis Enrique has no real alternatives at center back – other than the little-tested Marc Bartra – he had no choice.

 

The other option would be to move Gerard Pique up a line. He, too, came up as a holding midfielder. But that would be robbing Peter to pay Paul, as his departure from central defense would create the same problem. Pique, for his occasional blundering, is the rare player on Barca's back line with the height and physicality to fend off big opposing forwards. He would be missed just as much as Mascherano.

 

Barcelona, in short, had better hope Busquets won't be out for too long. Or its already shaky season might quickly disintegrate.

 

 

Yahoo Sports.