Barcelona vs Eibar - Valverde confident Barca can replace injured Dembele

Posted Tuesday, September 19, 2017 by PA

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde is confident he is not short of options to replace injured record-signing Ousmane Dembele as the Catalan giants look to continue their 100 per cent start to the season against Eibar on Tuesday.

Dembele, a B#96.8million buy from Borussia Dortmund this summer, limped out of Saturday's 2-1 win over Getafe in the first half after suffering a hamstring injury.

The 20-year-old France international will undergo surgery in Helsinki on Tuesday and is set to be sidelined for up to four months.

That is a significant blow for Barca, who signed Dembele to help cover the loss of star forward Neymar to Paris St Germain, but Valverde says there are several players who can fill the void.

He told a press conference on Monday: "We have various players, (Gerard) Deulofeu, Aleix Vidal, Denis (Suarez), Andre (Gomes)...we will look for alternatives to play in the first XI. We will also take Barca B into account."

Valverde also shrugged off speculation in Spain that Dembele might have been struggling with the problem during the pre-match warm-up at Getafe, or as a result of the Coliseum Alfonso Perez pitch.

However, the Barca boss did suggest a more experienced player might have avoided the injury, with Dembele's final involvement in the match being a back-heel to a team-mate near the corner flag.

Valverde said: "He's a player who has never had a muscular problem, he has no experience of recognising when you have a small niggle.

"To do a back-heel is the worst, the most aggressive, thing you can do to the hamstring. It's not normal but it can happen. A more experienced player maybe would have let the ball go out."

Barca's comeback win at Getafe left them top of LaLiga with 12 points from four games, two points clear of second-placed Sevilla and four above defending champions Real Madrid.

Valverde hopes they can continue their winning streak against 13th-placed Eibar, but had a warning for his players.

He added: "It's a different game to what we've had up until now. They will try to press us up high up. They're a team who steal possession a lot on opposing grounds and who read the second ball very well."

Eibar coach Jose Luis Mendilibar knows his side are massive underdogs but is taking confidence from their visit to the Nou Camp in the final game of last season.

In that match, Eibar were leading 2-0 but four goals in the final 27 minutes saw Barca escape with a 4-2 victory, and Mendilibar said: "We played a great game, but the result was the same as always.

"We were winning until the last half-hour and in the end they scored four times.

"We're going there with high hopes, but it's going to be very difficult to get anything. We have to do things very well. We cannot go out onto the pitch with doubts. Normally you don't get many chances there and you have to make them count.

"They, even if they don't play well, usually have chances and they have to either miss them or for our goalkeeper to be on his game for us to be able to get a good result."

Mendilibar, like Valverde a former coach with Athletic Bilbao, added of their in-form opponents: "A month and a half ago it seemed they were not worth anything. They had lost both Supercup games, they had seen a big star (Neymar) leave, there was talk that they needed signings. A month later they have won every match this season.

"We know they are a big club who have a great coach and very good players."