Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets is ruled out of the upcoming match against Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League, confirms Adria Albets.
The 34-year-old midfielder picked up an ankle injury during Barça’s La Liga clash against Sevilla a little over a week ago.
Following that, it had been reported that the veteran superstar could be out of action for close to two weeks, casting doubts over his involvement in the game against Manchester United.
However, there had been some hope that Busquets could feature, with the possibility of injecting the injured area understood to have been on the table.
But, according to the latest update from Adria Albets, the Barcelona skipper is definitively ruled out of the contest against Erik ten Hag’s men which will take place at Camp Nou on Thursday night.
Barça host Manchester United this week in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League playoffs and will play the reverse fixture a week later at Old Trafford.
And, as per the report, the idea is for Busquets to get some minutes in the La Liga clash against Cadiz later this week before becoming fully fit and ready for the second leg against Manchester United away at Old Trafford.
The 34-year-old had been in good form before his injury against Sevilla, looking in fine nick, especially in Xavi’s new setup with four central midfielders on the pitch.
Given his leadership and experience, Busquets’ absence for a match as monumental as the one against Manchester United will be a blow.
But Barcelona fared just fine without him in the weekend win over Villarreal and will look to repeat the same when the Red Devils come visiting later this week.
