Dani Olmo is out for a month, and Barcelona go for La Liga’s best ever start against Real Madrid without him
Olmo hurt his left adductor in the 4-2 defeat at PSG, and with Eric García out and Koundé a doubt, Flick is short in defence before Sunday’s Clásico.
Oct 22, 2026
Barcelona came out of Paris with their first defeat of the season and one more name on the injury list. Dani Olmo had tests in Barcelona on Wednesday, they confirmed an injury to his left adductor muscle, and the club expects him to be out for around a month.
That rules him out of Sunday’s Clásico against Real Madrid at Camp Nou, and of the league games against Alavés and Atlético Madrid and the Champions League tie with Aston Villa that follow it. Barcelona say how quickly he returns will depend on how his rehabilitation goes, and he is likely to miss Spain’s games in the November international break as well.
Hurt in the first half in Paris
Olmo picked up the injury in a collision with an opponent during the first half of Tuesday’s 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and was replaced by Fermín López. Until that night Barcelona had won all 11 games they had played this season.
Muscle problems have followed Olmo through his career, but ESPN noted he had been free of injury for club and country since January. He scored the fifth goal in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Real Betis, three days before he went off in Paris.
Short at the back
The bigger worry for Hansi Flick is in defence. Eric García has a right thigh injury, a strain to the rectus femoris that the club expects to keep him out for three to four weeks. Andreas Christensen has not played since Barcelona confirmed a left thigh strain on 20 September. Before the PSG game that left Pau Cubarsí and Gerard Martín as the only fit natural centre-backs.
Jules Koundé is a doubt after spraining his left ankle, which kept him out in Paris. Xavi Espart, the 19-year-old who scored Barcelona’s first goal against PSG, came off with ankle discomfort in the 74th minute. Barcelona are monitoring him, and Mundo Deportivo reported optimism that he will be fit. If he and Koundé both miss out, Flick would be down to João Cancelo and Alejandro Balde as his full-backs. “He played a wonderful game, and what he produces every time he plays is amazing,” Flick said of Espart.
Roony Bardghji will not play on Sunday either. Further forward, Fermín is the natural replacement for Olmo in the No. 10 role, and ESPN expects him to start ahead of Rodri and Pedri.
The record still on the table
None of this changes what Sunday is worth. Barcelona won their first nine La Liga games, which equalled the best start in the competition’s history, set by Real Madrid in 1968-69. A tenth win would give them the record on their own, and they would be taking it from the club whose record it is.
José Mourinho’s team will be without Vinícius Júnior, who is suspended. They will arrive on the back of a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday night, their fourth win in a row.