Pedri's recovery from hamstring injury stalls
By Tom Gott
Pedri has hit an obstacle in his recovery from a hamstring injury, with the Barcelona midfielder set for further scans after aggravating his issue in training.
The 18-year-old first picked up the injury in the 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich midway through September, but Barcelona rushed him back to action for the defeat to Benfica, in which he made his problem significantly worse.
He hasn't been seen in a month, and according to AS, Pedri's absence looks set to last a little longer after a return to light training saw the teenager limp off fairly quickly because of pain in his muscle.
Club doctors have already planned a new MRI scan on Monday, and while Barcelona don't yet know the severity of this latest setback, there is an acceptance that Pedri isn't going to be seen for a few more weeks at least.
What is certain at Camp Nou is that no further risks will be taken with Pedri. Those in charge at Barcelona are ruing their decision to rush the midfielder back first time and will now wait until they are 100% certain that Pedri is ready to return.
It's even suggested that Pedri might be out until after the November international break, meaning he would miss La Liga games against Rayo Vallecano, Alaves and Celta Vigo, as well as a Champions League meeting with Dynamo Kyiv.
To make matters worse for Barcelona, there are concerns that fellow midfielder Frenkie de Jong could be out for at least two matches after aggravating a hamstring issue of his own in Sunday's defeat to Real Madrid.
De Jong joined winger Ansu Fati in limping off in El Clasico, but fortunately, the latter's issue is not thought to be anything serious and he could be back in time for Wednesday's meeting with Rayo Vallecano.
As far as midfielders go, it was Sergi Roberto who came off the bench to replace De Jong, with the young trio of Riqui Puig, Gavi and Nico Gonzalez the only other candidates to play ahead of Sergio Busquets.