{"id":18641,"date":"2025-09-09T09:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18641"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:04:07","slug":"de-jong-joins-barca-sickbay-after-picking-up-knock-on-international-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18641","title":{"rendered":"De Jong joins Barca sickbay after picking up knock on international duty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Frenkie de Jong is expected to miss Barcelona&#8217;s upcoming home match against Valencia due to a groin injury sustained in a 2026 World Cup qualifier when playing for the Netherlands, the Catalan club announced Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Midfielder De Jong limped off late in Thursday&#8217;s 1-1 draw with Poland, and was then absent from the Netherlands&#8217; 3-2 win in Lithuania on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch top Group G with 10 points after four of eight qualifiers, while De Jong&#8217;s club Barcelona are two points behind leaders Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao ahead of this weekend&#8217;s fourth round of La Liga.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Frenkie de Jong has suffered a slight injury to the external obturator muscle in his right leg,&#8221; the Spanish champions said in a statement on their website.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His recovery will determine his availability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The injury likely rules the 28-year-old out of at least Sunday&#8217;s encounter with Valencia after he had started two of the first three games prior to the international break.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow Barcelona midfielder Gavi is being rested and may need knee surgery, while left-back Alejandro Balde is nursing a biceps problem in the Barca treatment room.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the return of club football, the Catalan giants have an even bigger headache with their revamped Camp Nou stadium as yet unlicenced for reopening.<\/p>\n<p>Their temporary home at the former Olympic Stadium at Montjuic is hosting a Post Malone concert this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona may therefore be forced to play at their 6,000-capacity training ground, but the Estadi Johan Cruyff is as yet unequipped with VAR facilities.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frenkie de Jong is expected to miss Barcelona&#8217;s upcoming home match against Valencia due to a groin injury sustained in a 2026 World Cup qualifier when playing for the Netherlands, the Catalan club announced Monday. Midfielder De Jong limped off late in Thursday&#8217;s 1-1 draw with Poland, and was then absent from the Netherlands&#8217; 3-2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}