Left-back dilemma as Mathieu & Alba set to miss Athletic
French defender Jeremy Mathieu is expected to be ruled out of Wednesday’s Copa del Rey march against Athletic Club at San Mames.
Barcelona travel to the Basque Country for the second of three games against Athletic this month, but Mathieu is unlikely to make the trip.
He didn’t train with his team-mates on Monday, instead continuing to do recovery work after injuring his calf in the game against Espanyol last week, which kept him out of the league win over Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Mathieu’s absence takes on extra relevance due to the fact it’s been confirmed Jordi Alba will be out for 10 days with a hamstring strain.
That means Luis Enrique has just one available left-back for the cup game: Adriano Correa. The problem is that Adriano has hardly played this season and has been unable to build up a run of games.
Therefore, it shouldn’t be ruled out that Luis Enrique decides to use either Aleix Vidal or Sergi Roberto in the left-back position - the latter featured there in the second half on Sunday.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Adriano was part of the side which were beaten 4-0 at San Mames in the Spanish Super Cup at the beginning of the season.
