Football
Samuel Marsden 7y

Ousmane Dembele to miss 'some time' after injury on league debut for Barca

BARCELONA -- Barcelona face an anxious wait to discover the severity of the injury that forced Ousmane Dembele to hobble out of Saturday's 2-1 victory over Getafe.

Dembele, making his first start in La Liga, fell to the ground clutching his hamstring after sprinting for the ball just after the 20-minute mark.

Barcelona's record signing immediately signalled to the bench that he would be unable to continue and was replaced by Gerard Deulofeu.

A club statement soon after read: "Ousmane Dembele has a hamstring injury in his left leg, more tests are needed to find out the extent of the injury."

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde admitted after the game that Dembele is "going to have to spend some time on the sidelines."

"It's a muscle problem," Valverde added. "We think it's a tear, but we will do more tests tomorrow.

"It's a shame because he was just getting up to scratch with the team's dynamic. We hope he won't be out for a long time."

The Catalan club paid an initial €105 million to sign Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in August, although that could rise to €145m with add-ons.

The France international made his debut as a substitute in last weekend's 5-0 win against Espanyol at the Camp Nou, providing the assist for Luis Suarez's stoppage-time goal.

He then made his full debut in the midweek victory over Juventus in the Champions League and kept his place at Getafe.

Speaking about the expectation surrounding the 20-year-old on Friday, Valverde called for patience.

"He's getting better in training all the time, but we'll see how he does competitively," he said. "We hope he's going to keep giving us more and more. You always ask about him, but we have to give him time."

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