Injuries give La Masia players another chance

The return to action was welcomed in Barcelona. Despite being knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao, they are still in La Liga and the Champions League. In the league, Barca will return as leaders so they are the slight favourites to retain the title. 

You have to remember, that said, that they have just two points advantage over Real Madrid and 'Los Blancos' have got a better head to head record. That means, Barcelona cannot afford to even draw one game if Real win every match. 

There will be lots of tension in La Liga before the Champions League concludes in August. Barca will have to pay special attention to injuries, something which have already given a headache throughout the season and alarm bells have been ringing even since the return to training. 

Since Barca began training again, Samuel Umtiti, Ansu Fati, Nelson Semedo, Leo Messi and academy player Monchu have been injured. Obviously, some absentees are more concerning than others and it seems that in the cases of the Portuguese, Ansu Fati and Messi, it is more as a precautionary measure than anything else. 

But Quique Setien knows he will have to pay full attention to the physical fitness of his players. The Barca squad is small. very small and any injury will be important even if the player is not a starter generally. The typical muscle injuries, which could normally rule a player out for one or two games, could now end up being four or give due to the packed schedule. Therefore, players will pull out if there is the slightest hint of an injury. 

Apart from Griezmann, De Jong and Busqets, practically the whole Barca squad have had injury problems this season. 

So, despite Luis Suarez's recovery, there is concern Messi's injury problems could get worse and more attention will be paid to the La Masia academy during this summer of football. 

The academy players have become very important this season, but at Barcelona, they have not forgotten that the B team are also fighting for promotion in a month's time. They do not want to weaken them too much. Barca want their B team to be in Segunda so Setien and his men will act with caution when it comes to choosing B team players. Those selected will have a great chance to try and get into the first team.