Barcelona has been hit with an injury problem after second-choice goalkeeper Neto suffered an ankle sprain in training on Monday.

The Brazilian goalkeeper may be forced to spend a tangible amount of time on the sidelines. Neto fell awkwardly in training on Monday, a day after Barcelona defeated Real Sociedad 6-1 in the La Liga on Sunday.

The Brazilian was not part of the game on Sunday and was part of a limited recovery session for the first-team players who were not involved in the game.

The back-up to first choice keeper Marc Ter Stegen this season is expected to return on April 5 for the La Liga game against Real Valladolid as his injury is estimated to last between two weeks and a month.

Barcelona manager, Ronaldo Koeman may be forced to call up B team stopper Inaki Pena as a backup option for Ter Stegen if Neto doesn’t recover on time.

Neto has played in eleven games this season (six in La Liga, three in the Champions League, and two in the Copa del Rey) for Ronald Koeman’s side, keeping four clean sheets and making 23 saves.

This makes up 16 appearances in total since joining Barcelona in the summer of 2019.

Barcelona has been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League this season but the team is still in contention for the Spanish La Liga after managing to reduce the gap between themselves and Atletico Madrid who lead the La Liga table to just 4 points and two points between them and Real Madrid in the third position.

In Sunday’s 6-1 demolition of Real Sociedad, Lionel Messi and Sergio Dest scored a brace each while Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann added one each to secure all three points away from home in emphatic fashion.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu