Barcelona decided not to risk midfielder for El Clasico as he felt discomfort in the morning

Barcelona unveiled their squad list for the game against Real Madrid about a couple of hours ago and there were a few surprise returns as Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and Jules Kounde all received a green light from the medical staff.

However, Pedri, Sergi Roberto, and Frenkie de Jong did not make the final list for the first El Clasico of the campaign.

Roberto was pretty much definitively ruled out of the Real Madrid clash when he suffered an injury in training. As for Pedri, even though there were hopes of him making a return, the possibility seemed unlikely earlier this week.

De Jong, however, seemed likely to be on the squad list, with reports even suggesting that he might take a pain-killer injection to make it to the game. But that is not how things turned out.

Barcelona didn’t want to risk De Jong

Now, Ferran Correas of SPORT has come out with a report revealing the reason behind Frenkie de Jong’s absence from the Barcelona squad list to face Real Madrid.

Even though the Dutchman was tested yesterday and did part of the training session with the group, he did not have a good feeling this morning and was finally left out of the squad.

De Jong was injured on September 23 against Celta. He suffered an injury to the distal tibioperoneal syndesmosis of the right ankle.

The club did not mention a specific time period that he would be out for, but it was reported at the time that it would be very tight for him to make it to the Clasico.

Now, on his absence for the Real Madrid game, the club explained that the injury is now healed, but that the player still felt discomfort in his right ankle and that they preferred that he not play if he was not at 100%.

There is still a long season ahead and they prefer not to take any risks with a player as crucial as De Jong.