Raphinha picked up a right hamstring injury playing for Brazil against France on Thursday, and Barcelona confirmed on Friday he'll be out for approximately five weeks. That window swallows both Champions League quarterfinal legs against Atletico Madrid whole.
The timing is as bad as it gets. Raphinha scored twice in Barcelona's 7-2 dismantling of Newcastle in the round of 16 second leg — he's been their most dangerous forward all season. Now they host Atletico in the first leg on April 8 without him, and almost certainly face the second leg shorthanded too.
Raphinha misses both legs against Atletico
Barcelona have the quality to cope in La Liga. They lead the table by four points over Real Madrid with nine rounds left — that gap should hold. But Atletico away from home in a two-legged knockout is a completely different problem. Simeone's side don't give up space, they don't panic, and they punish teams that can't stretch them. Raphinha was exactly the kind of player who could do that. His replacement isn't obviously in the squad.
The injury happened in Boston, during a 2-1 friendly defeat to France that had no bearing on anything competitive — which will sting extra. Brazil don't start their World Cup campaign until June 13 against Morocco, so there's no obvious reason the risk paid off.
Barcelona's Champions League odds just took a hit they can feel. Atletico were already going to make this difficult. Without their best wide forward for both matches, Flick's side have significantly less margin for error.
"The estimated recovery time is five weeks," the club said. Five weeks. First leg in less than two.
