Barcelona to lose defender for Catalan derby against Espanyol through injury

Barcelona look as if they will not be getting any more reinforcements from the treatment table for their Catalan derby this weekend. Espanyol return to their former home, Montjuic, this weekend, but are also facing injury issues.

According to Diario AS, Eric Garcia has more or less been ruled out of the clash, after he continued to train alone on Thursday. He does still have two training sessions to prove his fitness to Hansi Flick, but they say the 24-year-old centre-back will be working towards the games against Red Star Belgrade and Real Sociedad next week, which he has a good chance of making.

Equally, Manolo Gonzalez has suffered a setback for Espanyol. Starting midfielder Pol Lozano came in their Copa del Rey clash against San Tirso, which they won 4-0, but was subbed off shortly afterwards with a muscle tear. They should get Jose Gragera back, who has been dealing with foot pain. Alvaro Aguado is also a contender to start instead of Lozano.

Barcelona are still without Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marc Bernal and Ferran Torres. Things are looking much brighter for Flick though, with Gavi back, and Frenkie de Jong primed for his first start since returning from injury. Los Pericos face an uphill task, having kept just one clean sheet all season in La Liga, and are hovering above the drop zone in 17th.