Barcelona ace Philippe Coutinho faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury during the weekend’s clash against Real Madrid.
Barcelona succumbed to a dismal 3-1 loss to arch-rivals at Camp Nou over the weekend. However, it doesn’t end there, as the Catalans also lost one of their first-team regulars to injury.
Indeed, Philippe Coutinho suffered a hamstring injury during El Clasico that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.
Although Barca released an official statement relating to the Brazilian’s injury, they have refused to predict how long he will have to stay on the sidelines.
But, according to Spanish news outlet AS, as relayed by the Daily Mail, the 28-year-old will be out for at least three weeks.
That said, Coutinho will skip the upcoming set of fixtures against Juventus in the Champions League and Real Betis in La Liga.
The former Liverpool star playmaker has been an indispensable first-team player under Ronald Koeman this season.
The Dutch manager will be hoping to have his forward fit for Barcelona’s trip to Atletico Madrid on November 22.
The abovementioned showdown against Diego Simeone’s side will be crucial for the Catalan giants in terms of their title hopes.
After a slow start to the season, they already trail table-toppers Real Madrid by six points, though they have a game in hand on Zinedine Zidane’s team.
Coutinho’s injury will create more first-team opportunities for Ousmane Dembele and Francisco Trincao as well as under-fire forward Antoine Griezmann.
One of them will have to help Lionel Messi and teenage sensation Ansu Fati in shouldering the goal-scoring burden for Koeman’s side.
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