FC Barcelona: Jules Koundé ruled out for France duty

Barcelona’s Jules Koundé has been forced to withdraw from France’s upcoming international fixtures after sustaining a calf injury during Wednesday night’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Atlético Madrid. The defender was substituted in the match and subsequent assessments have indicated an approximate four-week lay-off.

According to information provided by Tracy Rodrigo, the 25-year-old will spend the next month in rehabilitation, ruling him out of Didier Deschamps’ squad for friendlies against Brazil on 26 March and Colombia three days later. While the timeline is a setback for both club and country, sources within the Blaugrana camp stress that the injury is not regarded as a long-term concern.

Koundé’s absence leaves France without one of La Liga’s most consistent performers at a time when Deschamps had hoped to fine-tune his lineup ahead of this summer’s high-profile tournaments. For Barcelona, the coming weeks will test the depth of Xavi Hernández’s back line as they chase silverware on multiple fronts.