3 players who could start for Barca in Ousmane Dembele's absence
Barcelona confirmed on Monday that Ousmane Dembele will miss the next 15 days with an ankle injury he picked up against Leganes on Sunday.
The French forward limped off in the second half of the 3-1 win after getting on the scoresheet. He’ll now miss the next couple of weeks, including both the Copa Del Rey quarterfinal fixtures against Sevilla and the La Liga fixtures against Girona and Valencia.
Ousmane Dembele began the season nicely, with scoring the winner in the Spanish Super Cup, scoring in the three consecutive La Liga matches and a beautiful solo goal against PSV. But things started going south when he was accused with either not arriving for training or turning up late. He was also faced with dietary and disciplinary issues.
Since then, Dembele has stepped up his game with scoring a late equalizer against Atletico Madrid in a crucial league fixture, scored a goal of the week winner solo goal against Tottenham Hotspur. He also helped in the comeback against Levante in Copa Del Rey by scoring a brace.
The French wonder kid had largely remained injury free this season with 13 goals and contribute five assists in 27 appearances. Surely Ernesto Valverde is going to miss him in the lineup, but he can start other players in his absence. They are as follows:
#3 Carles Alena
Carles Alena is one of the best graduates to emerge from La Masia in quite a few years. The 21-year-old La Masia graduate has made only 9 appearances for Barcelona, yet from what little we have seen of him play we could see that he is a guy who could make a difference in games. He is always ready to receive possession and has shown maturity beyond his years.
Alena has made 9 appearances for Barcelona and has scored a single goal. He would have to fight for his starting spot on the team due to the presence of more experienced players. Now with Dembele's absence, Alena would have to make the most out of chances given to him by Valverde. But this will happen only if Ernesto Valverde doesn't start one of the other two players on the list.