Barcelona forward Raphinha will miss Sunday’s Clásico against Real Madrid after suffering a setback in his return from a hamstring injury, a source told ESPN on Friday.
Raphinha, 28, has not featured since Barça’s win at Real Oviedo on Sept. 25 but returned to training this week and was expected to be on the bench at the Bernabéu this weekend.
However, he suffered some discomfort in Friday’s training session ahead of the game and will remain out of action for the foreseeable future.
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The source could not put an exact timeframe on how long, but it could be another few weeks before the Brazil international is back in action.
Raphinha’s recovery had already taken longer than expected, with Barça initially saying he would miss around three weeks after picking up the knock in Oviedo.
He has now been out for a month and may not even feature again before the international break, with Barça facing Elche, Club Brugge and Celta Vigo after the trip to Madrid before club football pauses in November.
Marc-André ter Stegen, Joan García, Gavi, Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski will all miss the Madrid game, too, while Jules Koundé and Andreas Christensen are fitness doubts.
The first Clásico of the campaign pits LaLiga‘s top two against each other, with Madrid currently leading Barça at the summit by two points, although the Catalan side won all four meetings between the teams last season.
Barça coach Hansi Flick will not be able to watch the game from the touchline, though, after the club’s appeal against his red card in last weekend’s in over Girona was rejected by Spain‘s Sports Administrative Court (TAD) on Friday.
Flick was sent off for picking up two yellow cards in stoppage time, with the referee’s report saying the first was for sarcastically applauding a decision and the second for his reaction to the caution.
The German coach said he was actually clapping his own player, Frenkie de Jong, but Barça’s appeal has been dismissed and he must watch the game from the stands.
As a result, Barça have announced he will not give the pre-game news conference on Saturday. His No.2 Marcus Sorg will fill in.
