Head coach Luis Enrique confirmed that Jordi Alba suffered a hamstring injury against Roma in the Joan Gamper Trophy

Alba pulled up lame in the second half and was replaced by Alen Halilovic. He is expected to be out for at least two weeks, which will test Barcelona's depth in that position, and means they will be without their first choice left-back in their UEFA Super Cup match against Sevilla tomorrow.

Several contenders to replace Alba

Although he was been heavily linked to Roma, Adriano will likely be the replacement for Alba, but Jeremy Mathieu could be a potential starter there as well. A centre-back by nature, Mathieu has shown that he can play out wide whenever Barcelona are not playing Alba, or when they decide to go with a back three - as they did against Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Champions League group stage last season.

Another good replacement could be Grimaldo, a young player that Barcelona have promoted from their B team. Barcelona haven't loaned him elsewhere, which may be a sign that they are open to having him play some games with the first team. He will join the likes of Sergi Samper, Munir El Haddadi, and Sandro as the most promising young players on the team. 

Aleix Vidal was brought over from Sevilla and can play on both wings and at right and left back, but he cannot play until January because of his new club's transfer embargo. Still, Barcelona are expected to play either Mathieu or Adriano.

Big blow for Barca

Barcelona will certainly miss Alba's speed on the wings. Although he goes up in the attack more than other left backs, his closing speed on defenders can make up for it. 

The club will face a tough task as Sevilla will cause them problems in the midfield and the wings. Losing Alba for that clash will hurt and he will likely miss the opening match in La Liga against Athletic Bilbao too. However, now is the time for Barcelona to show that they have a deep enough squad to overcome Sevilla. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu