It’s now official Luis Suarez will be facing up to a month on the sidelines after he suffered a knee strain during Barcelona’s Spanish Super Cup defeat to arch rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday.[spacer height=”20px”]
The Catalan giants has confirmed that the striker will be absent for up to four weeks after he sustained the problem during the 2-0 second leg loss at the hands of Los Blancos.[spacer height=”20px”]
The former Liverpool player picked up the knock in the final stages of that clash at Santiago Bernabeu and, after tests were run to identify the possible cause of the problem, the prognosis does not look good in the immediate term.[spacer height=”20px”]
Suarez completed the full 90 minute run out against strong Zinedine Zidane’s side, but was evidently struggling to compete after Barca boss Ernesto Valverde had made all three of his available substitutes before the 78th minute mark.[spacer height=”20px”]
They will certainly reveal the full extent of his injury in an official capacity in the coming hours or days, but Suarez absence will be strongly felt ahead of the 2017/18 La Liga season kicking off on Saturday.[spacer height=”20px”]
Barca take on Real Betis on the opening day at the Nou Camp on Sunday 20th August, and will also face a trip to Alaves six days later before the first international break of this season – matches that Luiz Suarez will definitely sit out for the senior Uruguayan national side.[spacer height=”20px”]
Valverde’s team will then reconvene for a 9th September clash against Espanyol before their first Champions League game of the campaign, but question marks remain as to whether Suarez will be fit enough to feature so soon.[spacer height=”20px”]
Fellow marksman Paco Alcacer will most likely be the obvious replacement for Saurez as the main striker in Valverde’s front three, unless the Basque boss opts to push Lionel Messi into the centre and drafts in either Arda Turan or Munir El Haddadi to play out wide.[spacer height=”20px”]
