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The veteran defender left the pitch in tears after suffering what appeared to be a serious injury in the sad 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Playing Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano is never easy at best and Barcelona were plunged into despair by what happened in the Spanish capital on Saturday night.
It was bad enough that the already struggling guests suffered a 1-0 defeat that leaves them languishing in 10th place in La Liga, nine points behind Rojiblancos.
However, a horrifying knee injury to veteran center-back Gerard Pique has now put the Blaugrana in a defensive crisis.
Without wishing to speculate too much on the extent of the injury, he looked very bad indeed, with Pique leaving the pitch in tears. He turns 34 in February; it could prove to be a long way back.
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“Come on, Gerard,” tweeted his former central defensive partner Carles Puyol. “I hope it’s nothing.”
So will Barca too, given that the central defender is not a position in which they are particularly strong. In fact, they tried to sign Eric Garcia in the summer, but are now so financially weak that they cannot meet Manchester City’s asking price for the 20-year-old, which is far from unreasonable.
As a result, they only have three orthodox central defenders in the senior team: Pique, Clement Lenglet and Ronald Araujo.
Should Pique be out for months, only Lenglet and Araujo remain, although Frenkie de Jong is obviously able to move from midfield to defense, as he did against Atletico.
The concern, however, is that Lenglet’s performance has declined this season, while Araujo is only 21.
Of course Araujo’s age does not prevent him from starting, especially since his performances to date have been excellent, composed and confident. However, the sample size is small – only 10 appearances so far for Barcelona.
Losing Pique for a significant period of time would therefore be devastating for Barca.
Obviously, the man himself will be shocked. And the injury crowned what was already a difficult evening for him, because he was at fault for the goal that ultimately decided the game.
During the first half, he was too slow in trying to control the ball high on the court, which stretched over his thigh and Angel Correa’s path.
The Argentine promptly fed Carrasco, who was greeted 40 yards by Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen. The winger stuck the ball into the German’s legs before stroking the unguarded net.
It was an atrocious defensive play by Pique and Ter Stegen, which deservedly ended with the concession of a decisive goal.
It was an all-round unhappy night for Barca, which only reinforced the suspicion that captain Lionel Messi doesn’t fit into Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona. However, there’s also a hidden feeling that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner has somehow lost some confidence in himself.
Messi’s inability to get into the match is a big deal for Koeman as the Dutchman doesn’t know how to get Barca out of tough situations with tactical changes.
Indeed, the Catalans have not won any matches they were at a disadvantage this season. And to make matters worse, Koeman’s idea of changing the game is to throw on all his attentive players, thereby completely sacrificing team structure.
Antoine Griezmann’s transfer from Atletico continues to seem like an expensive aberration, for both the player and the club, with the capital’s club the only beneficiaries at this stage.
But he is not the only one fighting to reach the finish line. No Barcelona player showed up for the post-match interview on television until 17-year-old Pedri agreed to do so. He spoke for less than a minute before disappearing.
Say what you like about Luis Suarez, who Barca sold to Atleti over the summer, but spoke when no one else did. This Barcelona lacks a lot of that kind of responsibility.
Atletico, on the other hand, appear united, strong and capable of challenging their first title since 2014.
Barcelona look as weak as they were then, under Tata Martino, and it is significant that this was Atletico’s first league win against the Catalans since 2010, another sad statistic for Barcelona at the end of a painful evening in Madrid, in all the senses.
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