Barcelona took a big step in the direction of a potential La Liga title with a comeback victory in Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening. Their 4-2 victory was the first from every side on the Metropolitano in the interior this season, but it came for a tough price, in which Marc Casado collapsed with injuries.
Although Inigo Martinez had a knee problem, he could be back after the international break, but Casado's injury is much more serious. The 21-year-old will probably miss the rest of the season after he has had a tear in his knee ligament.
According to Sport, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has three alternatives to take over the minutes of Casado between now and the end of the season. Although Frenkie de Jong probably seems to remain the starter, Eric Garcia is the primary candidate who performs the more defensive tasks that Casado had performed, and he was the one who replaced Casado on Sunday evening.
The second alternative is Gavi, who does not have to play meaningful minutes this season in a deeper role, but had broke out last season under Xavi Hernandez. He is a more intense option than Eric in terms of printing and disputing the ball. The third option would be Andreas Christensen, who sometimes also operated for the defense under Xavi, but still has to play since the second game of the season due to injuries, and probably doesn't seem to have big minutes in the last two months of the season.
Garcia is certainly the most defensive between herself and Gavi, and yet the latter is probably closer to Casado in his skills and his personality. However, Flick has come to Garcia from the bank more often to perform that role, and with Jules Kounde who has been exploited in large competitions lately, Flick can prefer an option that is more comfortable to cover the Frenchman.
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