Madrid, March 28 (IANS) FC Barcelona's La Liga and UEFA Champions League title hopes have suffered a big setback after Raphinha suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty for Brazil, playing in a pre-World Cup friendly.

The Brazilian Football Confederation confirmed on Friday that Raphinha suffered the injury in his right hamstring during Thursday's 2-1 defeat to France in a friendly. The forward will leave the Brazilian squad to return to Barcelona for treatment, reports Xinhua.

This is the second time Raphinha has suffered a right hamstring injury this season, having missed almost two months earlier in the campaign.

Barcelona play away to Atletico Madrid in La Liga on April 4, before hosting Diego Simeone's side in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal four days later.

After that, Barcelona will host Espanyol in a La Liga derby on April 11 and travel to the Metropolitano Stadium for the Champions League second leg on April 14.

Raphinha has scored 14 goals and given six assists in 27 appearances in La Liga and the Champions League this season.

Earlier, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid both edged to narrow wins before the international break to keep the title race alive in the La Liga 2025-26 season. Barcelona defeated Rayo Vallecano 1-0 while Real Madrid edged archrivals Atletico Madrid 3-2 in a hard-fought Madrid Derby.

With the league moving towards a decisive phase at both ends of the points table, Barcelona and Real Madrid are separated by four points, with Barca leading the standings with 73 points while Real Madrid have 69 points after 29 rounds of matches.

It was felt that the break came at the right time for Barcelona as they looked tired in both their pressing and passing, and Rayo Vallecano created several chances to level after repeatedly beating the home side's high defensive line, only to waste them.

Fortunately for Barcelona, goalkeeper Joan Garcia produced several big saves to justify his first international call-up. Flick hopes the international break helps his players recover after an intense start to 2026. It was also felt that Barca will certainly need to improve, because their first game after the break is away to Atletico, which beat them 4-0 in the Copa del Rey.

However, Raphinha's injury has thrown a spanner in the works, and the club will have to come up with a plan to minimise its impact.

--IANS

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