Barcelona will be without Raphinha for Sunday’s El Clasico against Real Madrid.
Raphinha has been sidelined for the past month after suffering a hamstring injury in the 3-1 LaLiga win over Real Oviedo, missing the last five Barcelona games as well as Brazil’s international friendlies as a result.
There was optimism in the Barca camp that the winger would be available for selection for the trip to the Santiago Bernabeu following Hansi Flick’s comments last week.
“We expect Raphinha to be available for El Clasico against Real Madrid — he’s on the right track,” Flick said during a press conference ahead of the win over Girona.
However, after it was reported that the Brazilian had missed training on Friday, it has since been confirmed he will not feature on Sunday.
“Raphinha won’t be available, but we have enough players,” said Marcus Sorg, Flick's assistant manager who handled the pre-match media duties on Saturday in place of the suspended Barca head coach.
Meanwhile, Sorg also delivered an update on Ferran Torres. The Spaniard is an option to lead the Barca attack in the absence of the injured Robert Lewandowski.
Though, as he has not featured since pulling out of the Spain squad earlier in the month with muscle problem, his involvement will be left until the day of the huge fixture.
“We’ll try to get Ferran on the pitch, but we’ll decide tomorrow,” he added.
In better news for Barcelona, defender Jules Kounde took part in a training session on Saturday morning and there is hope he will be available for selection.
“Jules trained this morning, and we have to wait and see how he reacts after training,” Sorg said of the Frenchman. “We haven’t decided on tomorrow’s starting eleven yet.”
