La Liga preview: Iniesta blow for battling Barcelona

Barcelona welcome Osasuna to the Nou Camp on Saturday, but the Spanish and European champions will be without injured star Andres Iniesta.

Iniesta limped out of Barca’s 2-2 Champions League draw with Italian champions AC Milan on Tuesday with a torn hamstring and the injury will keep the 27-year-old out for a month.

“Andres is a player who has played such a high level for many years now, but sometimes these things happen,” coach Pep Guardiola said.

“He’ll recover. We try to stay on top of injuries like every season but sometimes this happens. That’s a common muscle injury.”

It has been a surprisingly lacklustre start to the new season for Guardiola’s men, and after their 5-0 thrashing of Villarreal on the opening day they then went on to draw with Real Sociedad before giving up a late equaliser to Milan on Tuesday.

Three points will be very much the order of the day for the Catalans, with Osasuna finishing ninth in La Liga last term, just four points clear of the relegation zone in a log-jammed mid-table.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, have two wins from two so far in the league, although they could only manage a 1-0 win over Croatians Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Jose Mourinho’s side journey to Levante on Sunday, and they may again be without Brazilian midfielder Kaka, who was forced out of the Dinamo match with a heel complaint.

The rest of Saturday’s fixtures see Villarreal try to shrug off their 2-0 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich when they visit La Liga newcomers Granada, Mallorca host Malaga, Valencia journey to Sporting Gijon and Sevilla tackle Real Sociedad at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

On Sunday, Getafe meet newly promoted Rayo Vallecano, Espanyol are away from home against Real Zaragoza and Atletico Madrid meet Racing Santander at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.

Athletic Bilbao welcome Real Betis in Sunday’s late game.