Last Saturday, Barcelona was able to grind out a 1-0 win when they visited local Catalan rival, Girona. Girona is almost never looked at as a title threat, but they’re always tough to beat in their stadium, where they have not lost since last year. It was almost all positive for Barcelona after Pedri made his 100th appearance for the club, and they got the three points without playing well. However, midway through the first half, Ousmane Dembele went down with a non-contact injury.

Dembele received the ball on the sideline and took a long touch to sprint past his defender when he held up and started grabbing his left leg. It was clear at the moment that he could not continue, so Pedri was brought on to replace him. During the game, sources said that the injury might not be as bad as it looked. However, later on, it was determined that Dembele suffered a rectus femoris injury in his left thigh, putting Xavi and Barcelona in a tough situation, heading into the most significant part of their season.

Doctors have already ruled Dembele out for at least three weeks, so he will miss Barcelona’s next four league fixtures against Real Betis, Sevilla, Villarreal, and Cadiz. Two of those matches were away at sixth-place Real Betis and fifth-place Villarreal.

Dembele will also race against time to be fit enough for the return leg of Barcelona’s Europa League tie against Manchester United. He has already been ruled out for the first leg in Barcelona. Still, the fact that the return leg is in Manchester makes it much tougher for Barcelona to go through because of Manchester United’s impeccable form since the World Cup ended.

It’s a shame for Barcelona and Dembele, of course, because he finally seemed to get past the “injury-prone” label he received since arriving at Barcelona. For such a big price tag, the Barca fans were expecting much more.

However, Dembele was finally showing his true potential this season, most recently, in their Copa Del Rey game against Real Sociedad when he scored the game-winning goal after an exceptional run and finish.

He is not a true goal-scorer like Robert Lewandowski is, but he is just a nightmare to deal with for opposing defenders because of the pace and ferocity he runs with. The biggest loss for me is that Barca now loses that change of pace that Dembele brought to their game. Barcelona is known for keeping possession for most of the game to limit their opponents’ scoring chances, but at times they seem to overdo it to where it seems like there is no clear plan of how to score.

The pressure now mounts on players such as Raphinha, Ferran Torres, and Ansu Fati to step up in Dembele’s absence and take advantage of this opportunity to impress Xavi in these big upcoming games.

Looking on the positive side, Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres are now available for league games after serving their suspensions. And there’s always the chaotic fun of the Winter Transfer Window that Barcelona could look towards to bring in some last-minute help if they believe they don’t have enough within the team to fill in for Dembele.

The next few weeks will certainly be crucial for Xavi and whether he can keep Barcelona afloat and in contention for three more trophies this season.