Barcelona star Pau Cubarsi suffers injury blow on Spain duty

Barcelona star Pau Cubarsi has suffered an injury setback on Spain duty in La Roja’s 2-2 UEFA Nations League draw in the Netherlands.

Nico Williams scored early on in Rotterdam, but the Dutch hit back with goals either side of the break, before Mikel Merino netted a late equaliser.

A tie sets up the contest for a second leg battle in Valencia on Sunday night with both sides racing to reach the final series in June.

Cubarsi was forced off just before half time after failing to shake off an ankle injury following a heavy challenge from Memphis Depay.

Spain and Barcelona fans were immediately concerned by the sight of Cubarsi being helped off the pitch by Spain’s medical staff.

He was replaced by Dean Huijsen, who caught the eye on his senior debut, and De la Fuente confirmed an ankle sprain with his participation in the second leg in doubt.

“It’s his ankle, it’s a sprain. We want to try and recover him by Sunday and we’ll see how it goes in the coming days,” as per Marca.

“It doesn’t seem too serious, but there are only a few days left to recover, we have to be cautious.”

De la Fuente is expected to offer an update on the situation in the next 48 hours, after tests for Cubarsi, with Mario Gila already called up as a cover option.

It is a measure of how important 18-year-old now is for club and country that De la Fuente could lose a certain starter from his team.

Barcelona are back in La Liga on March 27 in their rearranged clash with Osasuna following a decision on a new date.

The club initially asked for a different date, to allow for their players to return from international duty, but the calendar is too full at this stage of the season.