{"id":1163163,"date":"2026-02-22T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/?p=1163163"},"modified":"2026-02-22T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:40:00","slug":"barcelona-defensive-prodigy-ruled-out-of-villarreal-game-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/barcelona-defensive-prodigy-ruled-out-of-villarreal-game-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona defensive prodigy ruled out of Villarreal game &#8211; here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona defensive prodigy ruled out of Villarreal game \u2013 here\u2019s why<\/p>\n<p>Following an entertaining affair against Levante at Camp Nou, Barcelona will shift focus to yet another crucial game in La Liga, as they take on Villarreal.<\/p>\n<p>The Catalans are slated to take on the Yellow Submarines next Saturday, a match that could have huge significance in the context of the title race.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into this game, Barcelona have been blessed with the return of key players, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/official-barcelona-confirm-medical-clearances-of-two-key-first-team-stars\/\" target=\"_blank\">including Pedri and Marcus Rashford<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, in the Villarreal game, coach Hansi Flick will miss out on the services of a key defender.<\/p>\n<h2>Gerard Martin ruled out vs Villarreal<\/h2>\n<p>The player in question is Gerard Martin. That is because the young defender had picked up a booking against Levante during the injury time of first-half.<\/p>\n<p>Martin, who started the game at centre-back alongside Eric Garcia, was penalised for a foul, which didn\u2019t look like a foul as it involved very little contact.<\/p>\n<p>Martin won\u2019t be available vs Villarreal. (Photo by Judit Cartiel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>However, that didn\u2019t stop the referee from dishing out a yellow card, which means the defender now has five yellow cards for the season and will, therefore, miss the next game.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia\u2019s absence, though, vindicates Flick\u2019s decision to bench Pau Cubarsi against Levante. <\/p>\n<p>The young defender will be fresh and ready to start in the absence of Martin against Villarreal, with Ronald Araujo likely to serve as an alternative.<\/p>\n<p>To Flick\u2019s fortune, Joao Cancelo, too, has impressed in the left-back position against Levante, meaning he can be considered a viable alternative for Alejandro Balde in the left-back position at all.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona, therefore, shouldn\u2019t have much problem dealing with Martin\u2019s one-match suspension. In any case, Flick would have ideally wanted Garcia to be available against Athletic Club, the club\u2019s next opponent after Villarreal.<\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/barcelona-defensive-prodigy-ruled-villarreal-164000176.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/barcelona-defensive-prodigy-ruled-villarreal-164000176.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona defensive prodigy ruled out of Villarreal game \u2013 here\u2019s why Following an entertaining affair against Levante at Camp Nou, Barcelona will shift focus to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1163164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}