A on Wednesday signifies that Barcelona should win on the San Siro subsequent week to succeed in the Champions League ultimate, however they might want to obtain this with out Jules Kounde, within the first leg. The France worldwide has performed probably the most minutes out of anybody in Hansi Flick’s squad this season, which underlines how large a blow it’s that he’ll miss out in Milan.
And the match towards Inter is not going to be the one showdown conflict that Kounde misses, as he’s additionally anticipated to overlook El Clasico in 10 days’ time. The anticipated lay-off for his harm is three weeks, so there’s some excellent news for Barcelona in that he would return for a doable Champions League ultimate towards Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain.
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Flick should now resolve on a alternative for Kounde, and as per , the participant he’ll go for is the person that got here on within the first half towards Inter: Eric Garcia.
Picture by way of Cordon Press
Barcelona have Hector Fort as Kounde’s backup, whereas Ronald Araujo has additionally performed right-back from time to time. However within the eyes of Flick, Eric is the perfect participant for his system for the matches towards Inter and Actual Madrid.
Eric has predominantly performed as a central defender or midfielder this season, however right-back is a place that he is aware of. He performed there on a number of events while on mortgage at Girona throughout the 2023-24 marketing campaign, and he additionally featured there when Barcelona performed Benfica within the Champions League spherical of 16 again in March.
Flick trusts Eric to step as much as the plate, and there’s good purpose for that. Regardless of having not featured too closely this season, the 24-year-old has been very reliable, and he’ll have to be so once more towards Inter and Actual Madrid.