Barcelona's Andreas Christensen suffers fresh setback with calf injury
Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen, who has not played since August, has suffered an injury setback just days after returning to full fitness.
Christensen has suffered a recurrence of the injury to his soleus muscle in his left calf and will now miss this weekend's La Liga match against Real Sociedad, while he will undergo further tests on Sunday to evaluate the extent of the injury.
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The 28-year-old returned to Barca's matchday squad in January for the first time since the opening La Liga match of the season following over four months out with an Achilles tendon problem, before being ruled out for three weeks with a new calf injury.
The Denmark international made a 26-minute cameo appearance in Hansi Flick's first league match in charge against Valencia in August but has not featured since, despite being named in a matchday squad three times in January.
Christensen's contract at the Catalan club runs until 2026, and boardroom sources told The Athletic in December that no player with only one year left on their contract was going to start the 2025-26 season.
The centre-back joined Barca from Chelsea as a free agent in 2022 and helped the club win the league title in his first season at the club, where he has scored four goals across 75 appearances.
After Sunday's match against La Real, Flick's side travel to Benfica for the first leg of their last 16-tie on Wednesday before returning to La Liga action three days later at home to Osasuna.
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