Barcelona took a major step towards a potential La Liga title with a comeback win over Atletico Madrid on Sunday night. Their 4-2 victory was the first of any side at the Metropolitano domestically this season, but it came at a heavy price, with Marc Casado succumbing to injury.
While Inigo Martinez suffered a knee issue, he could be back after the international break, but Casado’s injury is much more serious. The 21-year-old is likely to miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a tear in his knee ligament.
According to Sport, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has three alternatives to take over the minutes from Casado between now and the end of the season. While Frenkie de Jong seems likely to remain the starter, Eric Garcia is the primary candidate to carry out the more defensive duties that Casado had been carrying out, and he was the one who replaced Casado on Sunday evening.
The second alternative is Gavi, who is yet to play any meaningful minutes in a deeper role this season, but had excelled there under Xavi Hernandez last season. He is a more intense option than Eric in terms of pressing and disputing the ball. The third option would be Andreas Christensen, who also operated in front of the defence at times under Xavi, but has yet to play since the second game of the season due to injury issues, and appears unlikely to have major minutes in the final two months of the season.
Casadó played while being injured for 40 minutes. @tjuanmarti
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 17, 2025
Garcia is certainly the most defensive between himself and Gavi, and yet the latter is probably closer to Casado in his skillset and his personality. Flick has more often turned to Garcia off the bench to carry out that role though, and with Jules Kounde being exploited of late in big games, Flick may favour an option who is more comfortable covering for the Frenchman.
