It is doubtful whether Barcelona will play against Real Mallorca on January 2 during the first league game of the new calendar year. The Catalan club was already struggling with a large number of positive corona cases and three more were added on Wednesday. Samuel Umtiti, Gavi and Ousmane Dembele are all infected and will join the players who are already in quarantine, the club announced through its official channels.
It increases the corona concerns for Barcelona, which are already significant. On Tuesday it became clear that Jordi Alba, Clément Lenglet, Alex Balde and Dani Alves have tested positive and are therefore absent for the time being. Alves would also make his official return against Mallorca in the blaugrana. Dembélé was also expected to be infected. Sport spoke of an ‘alarm for Ousmane Dembélé’, after the 24-year-old attacker had to drop the training on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. due to corona-related complaints.
It poses a significant problem for Xavi, because the trainer is dealing with many more absentees. Sergio Busquets and Gavi have been banned, while Pedri, Ansu Fati, Sergiño Dest, Memphis Depay and Martin Braithwaite are out due to a variety of injuries. Barça have a killer schedule, as the cup match against Linares (January 5), the league game at Granada (January 8) and the Supercopa game against Real Madrid (January 13) are on the program. The latter match will be played in Saudi Arabia.
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