Barcelona to be without Griezmann for remainder of the season

The Frenchman was subbed off at halftime during Barcelona’s match against Valladolid.

Barcelona received some bad news as the club released a statement confirming that Antoine Griezmann picked up an injury during their 1-0 win against Real Valladolid.

According to the statement, Griezmann suffered an injury to the quadriceps in his right leg.

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The statement put out by the Catalan side did not reveal how long Griezmann would be out but ESPN report that he is unlikely to be available for the club’s final two matches.

Diario Sport take it a step further and all but confirm that he will miss the rest of the season as these types of injuries usually take around three weeks to fully heal.

It was a bit of a head scratcher when Barcelona came out of the tunnel at half-time with Griezmann being replaced by Luis Suarez.

The former Atletico forward had a tough half which included whiffing on what looked to be an easy tap-in goal.

It seemed odd because usually when a player misses an opportunity like the one he did, a manager usually leaves a player in to try to redeem himself. It surprised a lot of people when Setien yanked Griezmann after only a half but he did it because of the injury.

Despite his lack of efficiency in front of goal, his ability to track back was sorely needed as the team put in a horrendous second-half performance. It did not go unnoticed that the team fell to pieces when he was subbed out.

Griezmann now a faces a rush to be fit.

Barcelona would rather have Griezmann available than not but it does give players like Martin Braithwaite and Ansu Fati a chance to play more in what season there is left. Particularly for Braithwaite who has not featured as much as he would have expected.

It’s been a rocky first season for Griezmann especially since the restart. He finally seemed to have turned a corner against Villarreal and earned the confidence of Setien and now his season is over.

While he will miss the rest of the league season, he has every possibility to be fit for the restart of the Champions League.

Recovering and being available for Barça’s return match against Napoli should be Griezmann’s focus now. The first leg of the tie finished in a 1-1 draw thanks to a goal from the Frenchman. Both he and Barcelona could salvage their season should they make a deep run in the competition.