Catalan club have had up to 12 different players missing through injury this season, with a good number of those being hamstring issues
Barcelona players Pedri, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, Alejandro Balde and Frenkie de Jong have all sustained hamstring injuries this season.
De Jong is the latest to be sidelined, after the problem surfaced during training on Thursday, only a few days after the Dutchman scored in the 3-0 win against Levante. He has been ruled out for six weeks.
Raphinha was the first to sustain a hamstring injury back in September, barely a month into the season. The Brazilian’s absence during a crucial run of fixtures that included the 2-1 clásico defeat at the Bernabeu played a part in Barcelona’s slow start that saw Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid occupy the top spot through the first quarter of the season.
❗️Medical report
First-team player Frenkie de Jong sustained an injury to the distal biceps of his right leg during this morning’s training session.
Medical tests have confirmed that the expected recovery period will be approximately five to six weeks. pic.twitter.com/2irBhMoAG2
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 26, 2026
Since then there have been many hamstring injuries. By November, up to 12 different players had sustained some form of injury, and a lot of those were hamstring issues.
Raphinha suffered yet another one in February that ruled him out for three games. Eric Garcia came off in the 2-1 loss to Girona with a suspected hamstring issue, although scans later showed that there was no damage.
What is behind these injuries?
The idea that Hansi Flick’s system is behind these issues has stuck around for a while and will not be disappearing soon. The German’s system requires high pressing and high intensity movement. The offside trap that Barcelona regularly keep requires short bursts of speed to recover if Barcelona lose the ball or the opponents play a long pass.
❝ I love working with this team every day. ❞
Hansi Flick pic.twitter.com/htUpFYmwPm
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 27, 2026
These are all noted to be conditions that can put a strain on a player’s hamstring. But Barcelona staff have also reported frustration at referees’ decisions. Because Barcelona keep an offside trap, they often receive numerous offside calls in their favour in matches.
However, referees allow attacks to continue even when the players are suspected to be offside, with the flag and offside call going up only after the attack has been completed.
This is the general rule to avoid hindering attacks unfairly in the event that the players are not offside when the play is reviewed by VAR, but Barcelona staff feel that some calls that are rather obvious are still being allowed. This kind of situation, they feel, forces their players to put strain on their legs unnecessarily as they try to defend.
Since Barcelona’s opponents are clearly offside in many occasions during a game, this often leads to the Catalans making unnecessary defensive runs to cover.
How do Barcelona’s injuries compare to clubs across Europe?
Barcelona may take some comfort in the fact that this is not a particularly unique situation to the Catalan club.
Rivals Madrid have had Jude Bellingham, Eder Militao, Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy out at various points this season due to hamstring issues. Militao sustained the issue in December and was ruled out for four months, nearly until the end of season.
Working on precision. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/2sAsjz8xZa
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 28, 2026
At Paris Saint-Germain, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Joao Neves have all been sidelined at various points this season with hamstring issues.
At Chelsea in the Premier League, Marc Cucurella, Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian have had hamstring troubles, while Liverpool missed Alisson Becker, Hugo Ekitike, Joe Gomez and Jeremy Frimpong to hamstring injuries. The latter has sustained it up to three separate times this season.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have been without Kai Havertz, Ben White and Bukayo Saka. I the Bundesliga, Bayern have also missed Alphonso Davies, Hiroki Ito and Manuel Neuer.
There are concerns that the increasing number of games, including the expansion of the Champions League, has led to a significant increase in injuries. The hamstring is one of the areas most susceptible to injury when players play too many games.
However, when all of this evidence is considered, Barcelona have still had more hamstring injury problems than other top clubs across Europe. It would not be a surprise to see the Catalans respond in some way to this at the end of the season.
