A 3-3 draw against Inter on Wednesday means that Barcelona has to win at the San Siro next week to reach the Champions League final, but they will have to achieve this without Jules Kounde, who sustained a hamstring injury in the first stage. The French International has played the most minutes of everyone in Hansi Flick's Squad this season, which underlines how big a blow is that he will miss in Milan.
And the match against Inter will not be the only confrontation that Kounde is missing, because he is also expected to miss El Clasico within 10 days. The expected resignation for his injury is three weeks, so there is good news for Barcelona because he would return for a possible Champions League final against Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain.
Flick now has to decide on a replacement for Kounde, and according to the sport the player for which he will choose is the man who rose in the first half against Inter: Eric Garcia.
Barcelona has Hector Fort as a backup of Kounde, while Ronald Araujo also occasionally played right back. But in the eyes of Flick, Eric is the ideal player for his system for the matches against Inter and Real Madrid.
This season Eric mainly played as a central defender or midfielder, but right back is a position he knows. He played there several times during the loan in Girona during the 2023-24 campaign, and he also played there when Barcelona played Benfica in the Champions League round of 16 in March.
Flick trusts Eric to get on the record, and there is good reason for that. Although he has not characterized this season, the 24-year-old has been very reliable and will have to be against Inter and Real Madrid again.