Carles Puyol ruled out for eight weeks

FC Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has been ruled out of action for at least eight weeks following the dislocation of his left elbow.

34 year old Puyol suffered the injury on Tuesday night’s Champions league game against Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal and comes as a blow to both him and the team as he’s only just come back from a hamstring injury. The Barca captain landed awkwardly on his back with his left arm trapped under his body.  He was then stretchered off the pitch to a standing ovation by the Lisbon fans who felt for the Barca captain.

A statement from FC Barcelona read:

“The club captain will undergo conservative treatment and is expected to be out for about eight weeks.”

The captain spent the night in hospital in Barcelona after being allowed to leave Lisbon with the rest of the team. The following day, Barca president Sandro Rosell along with Andoni Zubizarreta who is the club’s sporting director visited Puyol who then tweeted some words of thanks and gratitude to the fans.

Puyol tweeted:

“I want to thank everyone who looked after me in Portugal. I’ll soon be back to my best again! Thank you for all your messages – a big hug to all of you.”

Although Puyol’s morale was high, it’s certainly not good news for coach Tito Vilanova who also has Gerard Piqúe sidelined due to a foot injury. Vilanova will be without two key players for the head to head clasico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Saturday.

Speaking about Puyol’s injury, Vilanova said:

“I’ve always said it, we’ve always had problems with our central defenders, but we’ll move forward,” he said. “It’s not just that we’ve lost Puyol for the clásico on Sunday, but we’ve lost him for other matches as well.

It certainly doesn’t look like being Carles Puyol’s season, does it? Vilanova will now have to resort to plan B and use players from Barca’s youth academy and shuffle first team players around who don’t normally play in Puyol’s position.

About Aaron

My name's Aaron and I'm a great Barça fan. I like to tell it like it is and if there is something I don't like about the club or something that needs addressing, you'll know!

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  1. Información Bitacoras.com…

    Valora en Bitacoras.com: It’s bad news for Barca fans and manager Tito Vilanova as captain Carles Puyol has been ruled out for up to eight weeks. The news is a blow for the coach who also has defender Gerard Piqué sidelined with a foot injury….