Samuel Umtiti Unfit to Play Against Atlético
Samuel Umtiti, the French Central Defender, suffered a knee injury during training on Tuesday and will miss the clash with Atlético Madrid.
Samuel Umtiti was one of the big Barcelona signings from the summer transfer window. He’s done well since his debut with the club by being very sound on the Barca back line. However, an injury will keep him out of the match with Atlético Madrid tomorrow evening at the Camp Nou. The injury was a sprained Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) according to Marca. It happened during the Barcelona training session on Tuesday ahead of the big match with Atlético Madrid tomorrow.
While Barca do have capable defenders, this is a big loss for the team defensive prowess. Umtiti is a very athletic central defender and his presence has been felt so far this season. This injury means that Barcelona will likely look to one of their veterans, Javier Mascherano, to fill in for Umtiti. Mascherano is very capable of replacing Umtiti because he has played a good amount of minutes at center back.
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Mascherano will be paired in the central defense along with Gerard Pique in Luis Enrique’s starting 11 tomorrow evening. Umtiti will certainly be missed in the back, but the pairing for tomorrows match will have to be sharp if Barca are to take the three points. Atlético’s attack is very underrated when debating about the Spanish football giants and they’ll certainly be up to the task.
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Luis Enrique may make more changes to his formation and his players for his starting 11 tomorrow, but not having Umtiti will surely hurt. Barcelona will have to dig deep to fight off a feisty Atléti side led by Diego Simeone. A timetable for Umtiti’s return hasn’t been announced yet but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later for the Catalans.