The tricolor international defender wanted to be reassuring on Saturday evening, after the victory of FC Barcelona on the ground of Valencia (0-1).
FC Barcelona French international defender Jules Koundé gave up his place in the 73rd minute of the La Liga match against Valencia on Saturday, visibly injured in the back of the left thigh, three weeks before the World Cup in Qatar (November 20 – December 18) . Koundé (23, 12 caps), one of the potential holders of the French team in Qatar, sat for several minutes on the Mestalla lawn in Valencia, holding the back of his left thigh, then gave in his place, grimacing at Gerard Pique.
An outing that triggered all the alarms within the Blues, already largely diminished by injuries in recent days. “Koundé made a big effort to reduce recovery times (from his previous injury at the end of September, editor’s note), because we needed him. We tried to change him when he felt muscle discomfort. Looks like it’s not an injury, it’s a big pain. We hope it’s not an injury“, wished Xavi on the Spanish channel DAZN after the final whistle.
A reassuring sign for the Catalan coach, the Frenchman did not seem embarrassed to celebrate Robert Lewandowski’s winning goal with joy: a Barça video shows him coming out of the bench at full speed, in heaven. “I think it’s nothing serious, just an overload (muscular)“, reacted the defender on DAZN, before openly criticizing the dense calendars of this atypical season. “They should think a bit more about the players. There are a lot of matches. We’re slipping down a somewhat crazy path, wanting to play so many matches… But those upstairs obviously don’t care.».
Pogba, Varane, Hernandez, Deschamps’ other worries
This muscular alert has undoubtedly caused some alarm to sound within the management of the Blues, already largely diminished by injuries in recent days. One of the executives of the Blues, Raphaël Varane, injured in a thigh, will not play again before the World Cup. Lucas Hernandez (Bayern Munich) is in the recovery phase and Paul Pogba, who has started a race against time to compete in the World Cup, has resumed “partiallycollective training with Juventus, but will probably not play a match before the tournament.
Koundé, transferred to Barcelona this summer from Sevilla FC for 50 M EUR, has already suffered a left thigh injury this season: on September 22, he had to give up his place with the Blues in the first half of the match against Austria (2-0), suffering from a “injury to the biceps femoris of the left thigh“. He regained his starting place for the clasico, which the Catalans lost 3-1 at the Santiago-Bernabéu on October 16. In total, he has ten matches this season.