Barcelona bit by the ‘FIFA curse’

The so-called ‘FIFA curse’ has once again bitten Barcelona as in the span of a few hours, the Catalans side has lost their two best defenders to injury.

Both Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde suffered an injury during their respective games with Uruguay and France.

The duo traveled back to Barcelona to undergo further tests to determine the extent of their injuries. The club provided an update and it was not good news.

Araujo has an “avulsion fracture of the adductor longus tendon in his right thigh.”

As for Kounde, tests confirmed a “biceps femoris injury in his left hamstring.”

Medical jargon aside, they’re both expected to be out for at least a month. The feeling around Araujo’s injury is more pessimistic with Barcelona evaluating the option of whether or not surgery is required.

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Kounde’s injury is not thought to be too serious with the possibility of the Frenchman being available for the match against Real Madrid.

Any way you look at it, losing Araujo, the leader in defense, and Kounde, one of the club’s star signings, is a major blow for Xavi Hernandez.

He loses his two best defenders for an important part of the season. They won’t be able to play the two Champions League matches against Inter Milan and Araujo won’t be available for the match against Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou.

The objective of qualifying out of the group stage has now gotten more complicated for Barcelona.

Xavi will have to rely on Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia at the heart of the defense. Garcia and Christensen have had a good start to the season and will now have to step up in Araujo and Kounde’s absences.

With the packed schedule coming off the international break, injuries is the last thing Barcelona needed. Unfortunately for them, they were dealt two major ones.