Huge blow for Barcelona as Copa del Rey final hero is ruled out of El Clasico, Inter second leg

Barcelona’s Champions League thriller against Inter Milan ended in a 3-3 draw, but it came at a massive cost.

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Jules Koundé, the hero of the Copa del Rey final victory over Real Madrid, has now been ruled out of several key fixtures due to a thigh injury.

The French international had to be substituted just before half-time at the Camp Nou after feeling discomfort, and tests conducted the following morning confirmed a distal injury to the biceps femoris in his left thigh.

While Barcelona did not specify a recovery time, reports from Spain suggest Koundé could miss around three weeks of action.

That timeline would see him ruled out of this weekend’s La Liga clash with Real Valladolid, the all-important second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Inter, and El Clásico versus Real Madrid on May 11.

The 26-year-old may also be unavailable for the Catalan derby against Espanyol and the clash with Villarreal.

Koundé has been a pillar in Hansi Flick’s backline this season, consistently performing at right-back for most of Barcelona’s games.

His most iconic moment this season came quite recently, when he scored a dramatic 116th-minute winner against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final to hand Barcelona their first major silverware of the campaign.

With the club chasing a historic treble, losing such a key figure couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the Blaugrana face a defensive crisis to find a replacement.

Now, all eyes turn to Eric Garcia and Ronald Araújo to step up in Koundé’s absence as Barça prepares for its most decisive run-in.