El Clasico: Raphinha’s fitness revealed ahead of Real Madrid

Barcelona have confirmed that Raphinha will not be available for Sunday’s La Liga clash with Bernabeu.

The Brazil international has not featured for the Catalan giants since the end of September due to a hamstring problem, but it had been thought that he would return for El Clasico.

Raphinha trained last week and had seemingly won his battle to be available for the league fixture with Real Madrid, but he missed training on Friday, having had a setback in his recovery.

Barcelona’s assistant manager Marcus Sorg revealed during his press conference on Saturday that the 28-year-old would not be available for El Clasico, and it is unclear when he could return to the field.

“Raphinha won’t be available, but we have enough players,” said Sorg, who took the press conference, with head coach Hansi Flick suspended for the game against Real Madrid.

The South American has scored three times and registered two assists in seven appearances this season, and his absence against Real Madrid will be a huge blow for the La Liga champions.

Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Raphinha will miss El Clasico after injury setback

Barcelona are hopeful that Jules Kounde will be available, though, with the Frenchman training on Saturday morning after missing the sessions on Thursday and Friday due to a knock.

“Jules trained this morning, and we have to wait and see how he reacts after training. We haven’t decided on tomorrow’s starting eleven yet,” said Sorg.

Joan Garcia, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gavi, Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo will definitely be sidelined, though, as Barcelona look for the victory which would move them to the top of the La Liga table.

“I’m very proud to be managing from the bench. It will be a very tough game. It will be important to control possession and apply pressure,” said Sorg. “We always miss Hansi when he’s not here. He’s the most important part of the team. We all know what we have to do.

“At the Bernabeu, you never know what might happen. There are a lot of emotions, and we’re ready for that. We had a good transition, and if we want to win at the Bernabeu, we have to stick together, press and play as a unit. If we do that, we’ll have chances.”

Real Madrid have received major injury boost for El Clasico

It could be advantage Real Madrid ahead of kickoff, with Los Blancos welcoming Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen, Dani Carvajal and Dani Cebellos back into their squad for El Clasico.

As a result, Real Madrid will only be missing two players – Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba – for the latest instalment of El Clasico.

Barcelona, though, are without a number of first-team players, and a defeat for the reigning champions would leave them five points off the top of the division, which is a substantial gap, even at this stage of the season.

ID:584387:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect4572:

No Data Analysis info