27-year-old Barcelona player’s substitution against Osasuna was only a precautionary measure | OneFootball

FC Barcelona continued on their winning ways as they returned from the March international break with a La Liga game against Osasuna.

The Blaugranes emerged 3-0 winners from this match, and the three points obtained at the Montjuic last night put them 3 points clear of the second-placed Real Madrid on the league table.

Unfortunately, this game, which was played only a few hours after the end of the international break, was not won without some notable sacrifices. The most prominent of these sacrifices was the injury suffered by Dani Olmo, who had to be subbed out of the match after having scored the team’s second goal from the penalty spot.

However, he was not the only player about whom the Catalans were concerned last night. Another player, the midfielder Frenkie de Jong, was also substituted at half-time, as Pablo Torre was brought on for him. This substitution raised significant concerns as the Dutchman was having a good game up to that point and had been a contributor to the first goal.

Fortunately, the midfielder’s situation is not too serious, as SPORT reports that the substitution was done only as a precaution because of an overload suffered by Frenkie.

This condition is understandable as top-level players are required to play an ever-increasing number of games, a phenomenon the Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick and the defender Jules Kounde both highlighted last night.

Flick himself had also been quite optimistic about Frenkie’s situation, as he commented after the game:

“I hope not. It’s not like Dani Olmo’s case—I think he’ll be able to play on Sunday. We have to wait, but it looks good.”

Hopefully, this will be the case, especially as Frenkie de Jong is once again an important part of the Barcelona midfield after having enjoyed little prominence for a major part of the season.