Barcelona star close to missing El Clasico

Will Barcelona be affected?

Jules Koundé looks almost certain to miss Sunday evening's Clásico against Real Madrid. The defender sat out Barcelona's training session on Saturday morning, with official confirmation from the Catalan club still to come.

According to Spanish newspaper "Marca", the French full-back skipped the final session before the match, casting serious doubt over his fitness for the eagerly awaited clash. He picked up a sprain against Real Betis, an injury that also ruled him out of the Champions League tie away to Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

Koundé's involvement against Real Madrid had hung in the balance all week. Missing the last training session leaves barely any chance of recovery, and his exclusion now looks a formality.

Confirm his absence and Hansi Flick heads into the game without a single one of his injured players back. Koundé, Eric García, Christensen, Dani Olmo and Roony will all sit out the meeting with Barcelona's traditional rivals, each nursing his own physical problem.

Defence poses Flick's biggest headache once more. The backline is stretched desperately thin, just as it was last Tuesday against Paris Saint-Germain.

Alternative options

With the final squad yet to be announced, the signs point to Álex Campos rejoining the travelling party again, having spent the entire week training with the first team amid Barcelona's defensive crisis.

Midfielder Oriol Guerín should also figure among the options after two days working under Flick, with Dani Olmo sidelined.

Hamza Abdelkarim, meanwhile, trained with the first team on Saturday morning but faces an uncertain future. Barcelona must still decide whether to hand him a place in the Clásico squad or send him back to the reserves.