Barcelona lose Iñigo Martínez to a right hamstring injury

Iñigo Martínez missed the start of Barcelona's season with an injury. When he finally made his debut, he had one to forget against Mallorca.

But he quickly became a fixture in Xavi Hernandez's starting line-up. Which is why losing him is going to feel like a blow to the Catalan side.

Barcelona released a statement confirming Iñigo's injury.

"Tests carried out on Monday show that the first team player Iñigo Martínez has a biceps femoral injury in his right hamstring. The defender is unavailable for selection and his recovery will dictate his return."

The former Athletic Bilbao player was included in the starting line-up in their match against Atletico Madrid over the weekend. He was a late scratch with Andreas Christensen taking his place.

He arrived at Barcelona on a free transfer this past summer and was initially supposed to serve as depth given the likes of Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo and Christensen were ahead of him on the depth chart.

But Iñigo recovered from his poor debut and cemented himself in the starting XI. His ability to play from the back and spot passes to the forwards is one of the reasons Xavi seemed to prefer him over Christensen the past month or so.

While no timetable was given for his return, Diario Sport report that he may not be back before the end of the year. At the very least, he is going to miss the match against Girona on Sunday.

Iñigo joins goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen as players from the backline who are unlikely to play again the rest of the calendar year.

If there is any silver lining for Barcelona is they do have a more than capable player to pick up the slack in Christensen who was nearly flawless in the win over Atletico Madrid.