Official: Barcelona suffer massive injury blow as key player is ruled out for few weeks with quadriceps problem

Barcelona have confirmed that Pedri will be out of action for the next few weeks. The Catalan side have confirmed that the midfielder has suffered a right quadriceps injury and will be on the sidelines as he recovers.

ESPN reported earlier that the Spaniard will be out for a month and will miss Spain's matches during the international break in September. The 20-year-old will also miss his club's next two games - against Villarreal and Osasuna - and could return for their fixture against Real Betis on September 17.

On their official website, Barcelona released a statement confirming the injury, which read:

"Pedri has a right quadriceps injury. He is unavailable for selection and his recovery will determine his return."

The Catalan side have not made a great start to their La Liga campaign but remain unbeaten after two gameweeks. They drew their first match of the season 0-0 at Getafe and won their first match at home 2-0 against Cadiz.

Xavi compares Pedri to Barcelona great Andrés Iniesta

Barcelona manager Xavi lavished high praise on Pedri, stating that he is on another level compared to the rest of his squad. He went on to compare the 20-year-old to his former midfield partner Andrés Iniesta, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time.

The Barcelona manager was quoted by Daily Mail as saying:

"He is a player who is on another level, I have seen very few like him. He is talented, he is at the level of Iniesta, but Andres had a continuity to the point that he is still playing. If we compare Pedri to Iniesta at the moment Iniesta wins easily because he played for so long. For me he is the greatest talent Spanish football ever produced. But Pedri is very good, he has a similar talent."

Setting the goals for the midfielder this season, Xavi added:

"I want that he participates more. Now he has an average of 70 or 80 passes, and want to 100 or 110. When Pedri has the ball, my pulsations go down. With other players, it goes up. I am convinced that he is going to mark an era. He plays in my position. He is one of my weaknesses. He does it everything well. It seems that he has 3 lungs."

Pedri has scored once in the two La Liga games so far this season. He finished last season with six goals in 26 league matches and will be hoping to get into double digits this season.