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Madrid — Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona’s French international striker, will miss five weeks after suffering a hamstring injury, the club said yesterday.
The club said in a statement that tests showed a “fibrillary lesion in the left thigh femoral biceps.”
If Dembele is out for that long, he could miss five matches in La Liga as well as France’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Albania on September 7 and Andorra on September 20. He suffered a similar problem in May at the end of an injury-ravaged first season in Barcelona.
He is the latest casualty in a depleted Barcelona strike force. Lionel Messi missed the Liga opener in Bilbao on Friday, which Barcelona lost 1-0, with a calf problem.
Uruguayan star Luis Suarez limped off after 37 minutes in Bilbao, also with a calf problem, and is expected to be absent for a month.
Barcelona have loaned attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho to Bayern Munich but are reportedly in negotiations to buy Neymar back from Paris Saint-Germain. — AFP.
Londile Moyo
Bongani Ndlovu