Barcelona players wear tribute to Marc Bernal following ACL rupture diagnosis

Barcelona take on Real Valladolid in their first match since Marc Bernal suffered a serious knee injury. The 17-year-old midfielder, who had made a fantastic impression during his first few games in the first team, ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and damaged his meniscus in the latter stages of Tuesday’s victory over Rayo Vallecano, and as a result, he will be out for at least 10-12 months.

It was an injury that rocked Barcelona, and ahead of the match against Valladolid at the Estadi Olimpic, Hansi Flick’s starting line-up work t-shirts paying tribute to Bernal – they featured the message “Estem amb tu Marc”, which is Catalan for “We are with you Marc”.

Barcelona will be hoping to secure the victory against Valladolid as an ode to Bernal. Not only that, three points would continue their 100% start to the season, and ensure that they lead La Liga going into the first international break of the campaign.