The French center-back will miss the next two Barça matches due to a calf muscle injury.
If losing the second straight La Liga match and giving up the league lead isn't enough, Barcelona have another injury concern. Center-back Jérémy Mathieu has been diagnosed with a right calf muscle injury and will miss the next three weeks of action, the club announced on Sunday.
Mathieu's injury brings another set of question marks to Barça's defensive system. The team that made history by not conceding a single goal in eight straight league matches has now allowed one or more scores in four consecutive games, dating back to the UEFA Champions League encounter with Ajax, two weeks ago. The defense that seemed impossible to figure out a couple of weeks ago now concedes with depressive ease, and things tend to get worse, now that Barça have lost arguably its best defender.
Perhaps Mathieu's problem can give Marc Bartra more chances to prove he's the right man for the job. Thomas Vermaelen looks set to return, and we might be closer to seeing his debut as a Blaugrana (it's up to you to interpret that as good or bad news). Javier Mascherano will probably be selected more and more to the center-back slot (again, decide for yourself how good or bad that is) until Jérémy returns.
Luckily for Barça, Mathieu won't be out for a huge number of games. In three weeks, the Blaugrana will only play two games, against Ajax and Almería, respectively, and those happen in the next seven days. Thanks to another international break, Mathieu will likely be fit for the highly important encounter with Sevilla, on November 22.
Here's hoping the defense can cope with his absence until he comes back.
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