Barcelona suffer late doubt for Benfica clash due to key player illness

Barcelona have for now goten past a series of injury problems that have previously plagued the side, and forced them into some emergency situations. However Hansi Flick may be forced to rethink his line-up for their Champions League clash with Benfica in the Round of 16.

The Blaugrana will tomorrow travel to Lisbon for the second time in the space of two months to take on Benfica in the Estadio da Luz, after a thrilling meeting between the two in January in the league phase of the competition. That clash ended 5-4 to Barcelona with a late goal from Raphinha in stoppage time, after coming back from two goals down twice.

Lamine Yamal: “I’m not a player who looks at statistics a lot, I play for people to enjoy, and to win.” @UEFA

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 3, 2025

One of the starters that night was Gavi, but after missing the last three games without playing a single minute, the 20-year-old is at risk of missing a fourth. According to Sport, Gavi remains ill with a fever. He missed their 4-0 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday afternoon for the same reason, and the Catalan daily explain that he has not fully recovered yet. Gavi did not train with the rest of the team on Monday as a result, and will thus be a late decision for the game in Portugal.

Barcelona hope that he can board the plane to Lisbon, but his chances of starting against Benfica now look slim. In addition to his fever, there is fierce competition for places in their midfield alongside Pedri. While he has been competing for a spot mostly with Marc Casado, Frenkie de Jong has come back into form, and started the majority of games of late. Further forward, Dani Olmo looks back to something like his best, and has been disputing the position behind Robert Lewandowski with Gavi and Fermin Lopez. Olmo came on to score against Las Palmas two weeks ago, and grabbed two assists against La Real this past weekend.