Injured Iniesta to miss Confederations Cup

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta dropped out of the Spain squad for the Confederations Cup because of an injury and will be replaced by Valencia’s Pablo Hernandez, the Spanish Football Federation said Friday.

Medical tests carried out on the 25-year-old confirmed that his thigh muscle injury was more serious than previously thought and could require him to be sidelined for up to two months, it said in a statement.

“There is a strong chance of a relapse. He already had one in the Champions League final and we don’t want another. He needs a long period of recuperation,” federation doctor Oscar Celada told a news conference.

Iniesta picked up the injury at the beginning of last month and he aggravated it during Barcelona’s 2-0 Champions League final win over Manchester United in Rome at the end of May.

Iniestsa is a key member of the Spain squad and he helped Barcelona to win the treble this season.

Spain will play a friendly away to Azerbaijan on June 9 before making their way to South Africa for the Confederations Cup which gets under way five days later.

The Euro 2008 champions play their first Confederations Cup Group A match against New Zealand on June 14. They face Iraq three days later and hosts South Africa on June 20.