Barcelona head coach Gerardo Martino has admitted that the loss of goalkeeper Victor Valdes through injury will be a big blow in the race for the La Liga title this season.
Valdes injured his anterior cruciate ligament in Barca's 3-0 win over Celta Vigo on Wednesday night, which will keep him out of the rest of the season and the World Cup.
"It's a very hard blow, but this team has been from blow to blow for a long time and we will move forward," he told the club's official website. "[At] this point in the season I thought that everything that was going to happen to us had already happened.
"I liked the first half. We maintained possession, we passed well, we went deep and we had pace. I didn't like our second half but I don't want to go overboard with my analysis because the game was marked by an incident that really hurt us."
Barca are currently second in La Liga, a point behind Atletico Madrid and two ahead of Real Madrid.
Matt Domm
