Barcelona beat Villarreal 5-1 to maintain their 100% record in La Liga, but the win was overshadowed by a potentially serious injury to goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who was stretchered off the field.
Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha scored braces, with the former missing the chance to record a hattrick having failed to score a penalty, and Pablo Torre added another as Hansi Flick’s team made it six wins out of six in the league.
However, Ter Stegen’s injury towards the end of the first half is a major concern for Barcelona.
The 32-year-old German international and club captain injured his right knee as he landed akwardly while catching the ball.
He was subsequently carried off the pitch in much distress, and replaced by Inaki Pena whose brilliant save denied former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe an equaliser when the match was finely poised at 2:1.
While the full extent of the goalkeeper’s injury is as yet unknown, it has been suggested that he could be out of action until April 2025.
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