Football
Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent 7y

Barcelona's Andres Iniesta is irreplaceable - Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique has said no-one is capable of filling the gap left by Andres Iniesta as he prepares his Barcelona side to take on Eibar without the midfielder.

Iniesta injured his calf during Thursday's win over Real Sociedad and while he's not expected to be sidelined for too long he will miss Sunday's league game at Ipurua.

With Rafinha also out, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes and Ivan Rakitic are the candidates to start in midfield alongside Sergio Busquets.

Luis Enrique said he is happy with what he has available, but admitted it would be impossible to find a like-for-like replacement for his captain.

"Nobody, nobody in my squad, nobody in world football," the Barca coach said when asked if there's anyone capable of doing what Iniesta does.

"That's the problem. I have excellent players in that position, all of them bring something to the team in attack and defence, but I have never seen anybody like Andres Iniesta.

"But I have great options; lots of good midfielders. It's the area of the team where I have most options, so it doesn't change [the planning too much] because regardless of the players we have out there, we always have the same objectives."

Iniesta, 32, has now been injured three times this season and has only completed six games.

Luis Enrique, though, was keen to play down the significance of that statistic.

The Barca coach said: "He's finished six games because the coach has substituted him when he's had the chance, given how important he is for us.

"I try to manage his minutes so that we can enjoy him as much as possible. This time [the injury] is not serious and he'll be back very soon."

As well as Iniesta and Rafinha, Barca are also without the suspended Javier Mascherano for their trip to the Basque Country.

With cold weather covering large parts of Spain, Luis Enrique is concerned a tough task against an Eibar side currently in the top half of the table will become even tougher.

"I'm a little bit worried because of the forecast," he added. "Normally Ipurua has a good playing surface and you can play good football, so let's hope [the weather] doesn't affect the pitch or the spectacle."

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