The personnel woes facing Spanish heavyweights Barcelona have continued to mount on Saturday evening.
Injury nightmare
The subject of the treatment table at the Camp Nou has of course proven a major talking point over the early months of the campaign.
This comes with Barca having been forced to deal with a frankly alarming stretch of torrid luck on the injury front.
Despite the season being just months old, already, all of Gerard Pique, Eric Garcia, Jordi Alba, Sergino Dest, Alejandro Balde, Sergi Roberto, Oscar Mingueza, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Philippe Coutiinho, Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati, Martin Braithwaite and Sergio Aguero have been forced into spells on the sidelines, owing to one issue or another.
In turn, it is safe to say that, as the campaign rolls into the hectic festive fixture list, the last thing which newly-appointed Blaugrana boss Xavi Hernandez would have wanted was another fresh injury concern.
As alluded to above, though, on Saturday, this is precisely what has been forthcoming in the Catalan capital.
Alba concern
Barca, as things stand, are locked in the dying embers of a La Liga showdown with Villarreal.
After taking the lead early in the 2nd-half courtesy of Frenkie de Jong, the visitors have since been pegged back by a late strike on the part of Samuel Chukwueze.
Their woes have not ended there, however, with key defender Jordi Alba having also been forced to limp out of proceedings.
After being struck with the ball, the Spanish international, who was also spotted limping earlier in the clash, was ultimately forced to make way for Oscar Mingueza:
@OscarMingueza
@JordiAlba #VillarrealBarça pic.twitter.com/bgtdKXsI6z— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 27, 2021
It now remains to be seen whether Alba faces any sort of extended spell on the sidelines.
