“It can’t be, I have to play,” Gavi shouted at half-time. He refused, through tears, to accept the first bad diagnosis. something had done crack on his right knee. And everyone feared the worst. FC Barcelona has confirmed the suspicions after subjecting the player to the relevant medical tests on Monday morning: “The footballer has a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and an injury associated with the external meniscus,” says the medical statement. It is the most serious injury of his career. In the coming days he will undergo surgery and, although the length of time he will be out will be known after the operation, it is estimated that it will vary between six and eight months. Or more. Therefore, he will miss the season and most likely his participation in the Eurocup and the Olympic Games will be in jeopardy.
Gavi joins the 13 players injured this national team break and the FIFA virus that is becoming a pandemic. More games, tight schedules and more international travel. A problem that the FIFPRO union has been warning about for years, and that coaches like Guardiola and Ancelotti have criticized. And before the Christmas break, Barcelona will not rest either, and will play a friendly in Dallas against Club América on December 21. Just one day after the last LaLiga game of the year.
The Barça player was seriously injured in Spain’s match against Georgia in the preliminary phases of the Euro Cup. La Roja was already classified. “Major injury,” the federation report already indicated this Sunday. And it came true. Tragedy was felt on the playing field. The 19-year-old left, in the 26th minute, crying over his own feet to the locker room. Ferran showed the Gavi shirt after scoring a goal, and social networks were filled with messages from other footballers and teammates. “We are leaving with bad feelings due to Gavi’s injury. We send you encouragement and strength. We don’t know the extent of the injury, but knowing what a warrior he is and how he left the field, we believe it could be serious,” Ferran said after the game. And he was right. The mourning reached Barcelona, which does not have a large squad.
Gavi fell to the ground, overwhelmed, after a fortuitous action with Luka Lochoshvili. He writhed and suffered from his bruised knee, so he left the field and was treated by doctors. But he returned to the field of play and, after a jump, he landed on the grass and his knee shook. “Gavi is hyperactive. He never wants to stop. He has a lot of energy and that’s why he plays so much and so well. Good players never rest, that’s why they are good and special,” Luis de la Fuente said before the game. But after the match, the coach seemed “destroyed,” and attributed the injury to a soccer accident and misfortune: “In the locker room it seems like we lost. It’s a wake. “I have told the players that, even with a broken heart, we had to move forward in the game in tribute to the injured teammate.”
And Gavi has played practically everything. Since De la Fuente arrived on the national team bench, the Barça footballer has been present in all the matches: nine as a starter, one as a substitute. “We feel it in our soul,” said the Spanish coach when asking him for a few words for FC Barcelona, Gavi’s team. Within the club, his presence is essential and his impact on the team is total. Barcelona will have to get used to the loss of competitiveness and commitment that Gavi offered in the center of the field. This season, in LaLiga, he is the second Barcelona player who recovers the most (8), only behind Gündogan with one more. And he is the third with the most minutes played (943), with Ter Stegen (1170) and Gündogan (1091) in front. In the entire competition, he is the second player who wins the most defensive duels (83), behind Rayo Vallecano defender Pacha Espino (97). Of the 111 games he has played as a Barça player, 89 of them have been as a starter. He alone missed six games in his first season, four in the second and two more since the current season began. A lot of minutes for a 19-year-old.
Despite this, there are those who do not see a clear correlation between the calendar and cruciate injuries. This is stated by LaLiga, which points out that the boy is number 59 in participation per minute in the Spanish championship. Sources from the employers’ association also remember other cases such as those of Courtois, Militão or David Silva, who were injured in preseason or at the beginning of the season, “when there has not yet been a saturation of matches.”
Be that as it may, Gavi’s loss leaves a big hole in Barcelona, which will be able to comply with LaLiga regulations and, as it is an injury lasting more than four months, incorporate a new player. The requirement will be that his salary is a maximum of 80% of Gavi’s salary for the remainder of the season at the time of his registration. And without repercussion on the fair playalthough it will not be free: you will have to compute it next year.
FIFA will also have to pay for the midfielder. According to the organization’s club protection program, for the transfer of players to their national teams, after 28 days of inactivity since the injury, Barcelona will collect compensation. The daily amount is up to 20,548 euros, with a maximum of 365 days and, therefore, 7.5 million euros.
Ter Stegen suffers from low back pain
Barcelona was beginning to recover after a fearsome waiting list in the infirmary last month. But bad news reached Barcelona from Germany. During this national team break, Ter Stegen also showed discomfort. The Barça goalkeeper left the training camp with Germany on Friday. Acute pain in his back forced him to miss the games against Turkey and Austria, and he returned to Barcelona to recover and learn the extent of his illness on Monday afternoon. Although alarm bells went off at Can Barça because he was an essential player, it was an episode of low back pain. A serious injury is ruled out, which gives Xavi Hernández air and oxygen.
The evolution of his pain in the coming days will mark his presence in next weekend’s match against Rayo Vallecano on matchday number 14 of LaLiga. Beyond Gavi, only Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong remain to recover after accumulating up to six injured players at the same time. In total, there have been 12 players from the first team who have been absent since the start of the season.
The Dutch footballer trained this Monday with the group, with the expectation of being discharged and being able to travel to Madrid. Another respite for Xavi, who has seen in the last two seasons how up to eight footballers have fallen with the national teams of their respective countries: Alejandro Balde, Ronald Araujo, Jules Koundé did so at the beginning of this season; and Ousmane Dembélé, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay, last year. A pandemic of injuries that Barcelona never seems to completely get rid of. Optimism and concern haunt the culés.
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