In the wake of Barcelona's first league loss in seven months at the hands of Real Sociedad on Saturday, Pep Guardiola was given some more bad injury news today. The team's official website is reporting that both Martin Montoya and Gabriel Milito will miss the rest of the season with injuries sustained on the weekend.
Barcelona Lose Two More Defenders to Season Ending Injuries
Defender Martin Montoya, who left the match favoring his shoulder after a hard tackle, was examined and diagnosed with a dislocated left shoulder and fractured collarbone. Montoya is expected to miss four to six weeks. The 20-year old fullback has been a regular on the Barcelona B team this season, and was making his first team debut on Saturday.
As if that wasn’t enough salt in Barca’s wound, defender Gabi Milito has been ruled out for six weeks after doctors discovered a tear in his calf muscle. Milito picked up the injury after he appeared to score Barca’s second goal of the match, but was denied by a horrendous decision from the linesman. Milito will have surgery this week to repair the tear.
The loss of Milito and Montoya is a further blow to Barcelona's defensive depth. Pep Guardiola is already without defenders Maxwell Andrade, Eric Abidal and Adriano Correia, all of whom are recovering from various injuries. It appears Guardiola will continue to have to utilize defensive midfielders in central defense roles to help cover the lack of depth on the back line.
Barcelona faces Real Madrid at the Camp Nou in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday, leading 2-0 on aggregate.
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