Barcelona suffers severe cruciate ligament tear, midfielder out for the rest of the season

Barcelona fear that midfielder Marc Bernal could be out for the rest of the season after sustaining an injury in the 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday night.

The 17-year-old started in La Liga for the third consecutive season and goals from Pedri and debutant Dani Olmo helped the Blaugrana to another 2-1 win and move them top of the table.

However, the victory appears to have come at a price, as teenager Bernal had to be substituted towards the end of the competition. ESPN Barca reportedly believe he may have suffered a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament, which could cause him to miss most of the 2024/25 season.

This is a heavy blow for new head coach Hansi Flick, who is already without his regular stars Frenkie de Jong and Gavi. The German admitted that the first signs of Bernal's injury do not look good.

Flick told reporters: “It is a sad victory because Marc Bernal is injured and it doesn’t look so good.

“We have to wait and see how tough it is. If we win, that's OK, but if you look at the dressing room, nobody is happy.”

“That's not good. He played a fantastic game – such a performance at the age of 17. That hurts.”

Bernal, like his midfield colleagues De Jong and Gavi, has to sit out the game, while Flick also had to do without Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen and Ansu Fati on Tuesday evening due to injury.

The former Bayern Munich manager now has few options in central midfield but was able to hand summer signing Olmo his club debut after missing the first two games of the season as Barca struggled to sign him under La Liga's strict salary regulations.

The 2024 European Championship winners came on at half-time and looked their best, scoring the winning goal in the 82nd minute after Unai Lopez had given Vallecano an early lead.