Barcelona can devise measures to combat unfortunate incidence of injuries, although the club is not necessarily at fault for what is inevitable in the game.
Yes, injuries are inevitable in football, but they can be lessened with proper management. In recent seasons, FC Barcelona has been experiencing an alarming injury crisis, particularly among its younger players. This issue has raised concerns about the club’s management of player minutes and the overall handling of its rising stars.
17-year-old Marc Bernal became the latest victim on Tuesday night in the win over Ray Vallecano. The midfielder suffered a ruptured Anterior cruciate ligament and is expected to miss the rest of the season, continuing what is now becoming a trend at the club, in which at least a player spends a lengthy period on the sideline each season.
Before the new La Masia graduate, the likes of Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Alejandro Balde, Gavi are more famously Ansu Fati have shared a history of the grueling injury incidence at the club. Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo are also not absent on the list.
While it is just a part of the game and even other top clubs share the experience, the rate at which it happens to Barcelona youngesters, especially those in the limelight is what continues to put the club under the radar. Then the world would continue to lament the management of the players.
But Marc Bernal has played less than 270 minutes of competitive action this season. Can that also be associated with the club’s poor management of game time ?
Injuries are Inevitable in Sports, Unfortunately
Rates of injury occurrences is becoming more damning in sports. Many teams are unable to achieve their objectives solely due to injury occurrences. Unfortunately, it is a part the game that can not be done without.
Barcelona, just like every other club experience it. Last season, Real Madrid lost David Alaba, Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao to long-term injuries in the early days of the season, and the trio missed a significant part of the season.
Anterior cruciate ligament ACL is one of the most severe injuries in football. Many players who have been victims not only missed out for a long period but were also unable to hit top form again as a result of the aftermath. For some, it spelt the end of their professional careers.
Injury-Forced Retirements in Football
Even though he is regarded as one of the Netherlands’ finest, Marco van Basten would have achieved more in the game but had to retire at the age of 28 in 1995, having already missed two years battling injuries.
At the age of 26 when he just hit his prime, Owen Hargreaves started having injury problems. He eventually called time on his professional career at 31 when a long-term knee injury meant he struggled to even get up and down the stairs in his own house.
Although Sergio Aguero already achieved a successful legacy in the game during his time at Manchester City, he was still ambitious after his dream fulfilling move to Barcelona. Unfortunately, he suffered from a heart disease that saw him retire at age 33.
Emmanuel Petit, former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder, could have played on at 34 but retired due to a persistent knee injury.
In the summer of 2005, Jamie Redknapp retired from the game due to his constant injury problems and on the advice of his medical specialists. He was 31 at the time and was rarely fit all his career, much of which was spent under the knives at Liverpool.
In December 2009, English striker Dean Ashton confirmed his retirement at the age of 26, after failing to fully recover from a long-term ankle injury, sustained during an international training session, in 2006, following a tackle from teammate Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Jack Wilshere (30), Ledley King (31), Abou Diaby (32), Micah Richards (31), Aaron Moy (29), Just Fontaine (28), Javier Clemente (24), Stuart Holden (26), David Odonkor (29), Ryan Mason (27), Andre Schurrle (29), Uli Hoeness (27), and even more recently Enock Mwepu at the age of 24.
The names above are just a few of the victims. And some players managed to play until their late 30s, although they never fully recovered from the injuries that had threatened their careers eariler on.
Barcelona Injuries, a Plague Becoming Trend
Since the beginning of the decade, Barcelona has been producing more and giving more chances to their Academy graduates in the first team. After the emergence of Sergio Busquets in the late 10s, hardly did any player progress through the ranks and go on to star at the club.
Gerard Deulofeu, Marc Bartra, Adama Traore, Sergi Samper and others emerged during the last decade but were not really able to earn the right to star for the club, due to the financial buoyancy at the time, which saw the arrival of players in big money moves.
However, recently, the club has been humbled by its financial realities and has as a result succumbed to giving more chance to their own Academy players beforre showing the exit door to those that failed in their audition.
Ansu Fati, Pablo Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez have all been amongst the lucky few, while Pedri, even though was never a product of the club’s Academy, arrived at a very young age, and is sometimes confusing to be exempted as a Barcelona product.
Really talented individuals but unfortunate with injuries. The most notable one started with Ansu Fati, who became a neighborhood name in Barcelona following his integration into the first team in 2019.
Ansu Fati and Other Injury Victims
The Spanish attacker finished second in the 2020 Golden Boy voting pool, just behind the winner Erling Haaland. Having made his debut before even turning 17, Ansu Fati made 33 competitive appearances in his first season as a professional. It is also worth noting that his senior debut came before even playing for Barça B team.
Fati was officially promoted to the first team ahead of the start of the 2020-21 season. He continued to star until the later staged of the year, when he suffered a grueling meniscus tear in his left knee. Initially ruled out for four months, Fati spent nine months on the sideline and missed the rest of that season.
Till date, the now 21-year-old has not been able to fully have a good run of games without injury intervening. He has missed a total of 123 games due to a series of injuries, while making 139 club appearances for the club and Brighton, where he spent last season on loan.
While the club sweat on the injuries suffered by Fati, Ronald Araujo was another casualty. Between the 2020-21 to the 2022-23 season, the Uruguayan defender missed a total of 61 games, missing at least 17 games in each season, and more than 20 in two of those three seasons each.
Ronald Araujo‘s injury eased last season but he was still not available for selection for eight games, suffering two different injuries. However, the 25-year-old is curently on the sideline and is expected to miss the rest of the year.
In the 2020-21 season, Pedri, in his first season with Barcelona, played 65 senior games for both the club and the Spanish national team, starting 48 of them. After already represnting his country in the Euros, he was also named in the Tokyo Olympics squad, taking his total appearances to 73.
Pedri, who had not missed a game due to injury before then, started to fall apart at the start of the following season and since then has suffered eight different injuries, and missed 85 games.
Alejandro Balde has had a poor injury record before his promotion to the first team and the young defender has suffered five more during his time with the senior team, missing 35 games, including 22 last season, when a tendor rupture sidelined him for more than six months.
The Spaniard was forced to undergo a surgery before turning 21, a condition that may impact his career as time goes on.
Gavi made his first team debut before turning 17 and went on to make more 50 games in back-to-back seasons for both club and country having made his international debut for Spain and becoming the youngest player to represent the senior team.
Even when there were indications that the player was burning out, caution was not taken and the unfortunate incidence happened while representing Spain in a Euros qualifying match against Georgia in November 2023. Gavi suffered an Anterior cruciate ligament tear, and has been out of action till date.
He missed the UEFA European Championship and the Olympic games this summer as a result, 46 games missed, excluding the appearances he would have made had been selected for Paris 2024 Olympics.
Frenkie de Jong has missed a total of 43 games for club and country since the start of the 2022-23 season, albeit he was also available to play some part for Barcelona. Despite his fitness struggles, he was still played a total of 73 times by Barcelona over the same period. Wonderful.
He Dutchman missed the European Championship in the summer despite being initially considered for selection until the last minute. It is surprising that De Jong is yet to fully recover from his injury, a fact that has become worrying in Barcelona.
And now Marc Bernal, who is regrettably set to miss the rest of the season due to his ruptured Anterior cruciate ligament.
Could Barcelona have been more cautious ?
Absolutely. While it is only fair to admit that injuries are unfortunate, the club can adopt measures that are not farfetched to combat the growing malady.
For a club like Barcelona, which prides itself on developing young talents, safeguarding their physical and mental well-being should also be considered a priority.
Despite how frequent these players get injured, it is alarming the number of games they still get to play in the short period of their availability. A factor which continues to make many of them vulnerable to complications.
The club’s physiotherapists also need to have a look at themselves. It is commendable that the team was upgraded and new members were brought in during the time of Xavi Hernandez and they were able to turn what was an ugly situation to a good one. But recently occurrences suggest they are entertaining complacency.
With Ousmane Demeble, they did a wonderful job and they need to replicate that healing secret with the likes of Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araujo and other, who are becoming or have become prone to injuries.
The club can also share the strategy employed by Arsenal handling the Jurrien Timber injury at the start of last season. Whilst the Dutchman had been deemed fit to play again, Arsenal took its time and even had him playing for the reserves before he featured in the second half of the final weekend of the Premier League season.
Real Madrid with Eder Militao is also another case study to take lessons from. Despite returning to full fitness following his long-term lay-off due to an ACL injury, the Brazilian played just 28 minutes of the possible 450 in his first five games upon return.
Also notable is that for the remainder of the season, he was never really played in back-to-back games by Carlo Ancelotti, and he completed 90 minutes three times in 14 games, practically sitting out six.
Injury incidents are indeed unfortunate, but many of them can be avoided or minimized with minute management, and manager Hansi Flick will definitely look to do better in that department than his predecessor, Xavi Hernandez.
If the current trend of over-reliance and excessive minute allocation continues, the club risks losing more players to injuries, which could significantly impact its long-term ambitions. But not only the club, but as well the players.
