Iniesta injury blow for Barcelona

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta suffered a thigh injury in the first half of the Copa del Rey Clasico against Real Madrid.

Iniesta, 27, walked off the pitch near the half-hour mark after an innocuous challenge from Alvaro Arbeloa, being replaced by Pedro.

A preliminary assessment of the injury, made public by the club on Twitter, has revealed ‘a small rupture in the biceps femoris muscle’ in Iniesta’s left leg, with the player due to undergo further tests on Thursday to learn the exact extent of the problem.

This is the fourth time that Iniesta has been injured this season, with three of those problems related to the same muscle.

In November, Iniesta missed two weeks recovering from a thigh strain.

Meanwhile, Barcelona defender Daniel Alves said his side had to work hard to scrape the 2-2 draw.

“We knew we had to suffer until the end,” Alves said after the match.

“This version of Real Madrid is the one that gives us the most problems, because they create a lot of pressure.”

“They were phenomenal, closed down very well and made it very hard for us to attack.”

“The most important thing is that we are through. We knew this tie would be decided in both matches, not just the first one.We are very happy to go through.”

The Brazilian right-back then criticised Madrid’s lack of fair play, saying: “A minor detail is that when the ball goes out, we return it and Madrid do not.”

“This is the difference between the two teams.”