After a significant period of good results for the team, FC Barcelona suffered two season-defining defeats in the last ten days. Firstly, they fell to Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Champions League, a defeat that saw them eliminated from the tournament, and then again lost to Real Madrid in the league El Clasico, which proved to be the killing blow to the Catalans’ league ambitions.
In both these matches, the fullback Joao Cancelo had to face a lot of criticism. The fullback first allowed Ousmane Dembele to sneak in from the right wing to score the goal that tied the score in the second leg, and then repeated his mistake against Real Madrid, as Lucas Vazquez also scored from a similar position.
These costly errors from Cancelo naturally lead to the question of when the first-choice left-back of Barcelona, Alejandro Balde, will be able to return to the field. The answer to this question is provided by the journalist Jordi Cardero (h/t Barca Centre), who claims that while the Spaniard will be able to train on the field in the coming days, he will still be unable to play before the next season.
Since suffering from the hamstring tendon tear that he suffered in the Copa del Rey clash against Atheltic Club, the defender has embarked on a recovery process that he keeps mainly in the background. He does not publish his work on social media and has rather kept working on his recovery in complete silence.
While setting no deadlines for himself, Balde was initially targeting to return to action for Barcelona at the end of the season, or for Spain for the coming EURO 2024. However, it looks highly likely that the fullback will be able to return only after these two competitions have already ended.
After having taken over from Jordi Alba in the last season, when he fully justified Xavi’s choice over the veteran fullback, Balde had to prove that he was not a one-season wonder this season.
He was struggling to show the same form from the last season before getting his season fully derailed with such a serious injury.
Thus, the club did not want to rush his return. However, with Cancelo’s poor showings, the Catalans will naturally be looking forward to the 20-year-old Spanish defender’s return as soon as possible.
