Barcelona confirm Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez injury blows following 5-1 defeat to Real Madrid

Barcelona were hit by two further blows during the 2-0 Spanish Super Cup second-leg defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday night (16 August) after Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez ended the game with different injury concerns.

The Catalans visited the Santiago Bernabeu seeking to overturn a 3-1 defeat suffered in the first leg. However, Real Madrid beat them again to claim the Super Cup trophy with an emphatic 5-1 victory on aggregate.

Zinedine Zidane rested the likes of Gareth Bale, Isco and Casemiro even though Cristiano Ronaldo was also unavailable after being hit with a five-game ban for shoving the referee in the first leg.

Yet goals from Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema were enough to beat Barcelona just a week after the Champions League holders also beat Manchester United 2-1 to claim the Uefa Super Cup.

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde was handed two further blows after both Pique and Suarez suffered different injuries during the game.

"Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez both ended the game with injury problems on Wednesday evening in the Santiago Bernabeu. The Catalan defender had to be replaced by Nelson Semedo just five minutes into the second half due to a groin strain in his left leg," Barcelona confirmed via their official club website.

"The Uruguayan played the entire 90 minutes in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup but finished the game with a knee problem."

Pique and Suarez are now set to undergo scans to determine their availability for the La Liga opener against Real Betis on Sunday (20 August). The potential absence of the key duo to face the Sevilla-based side would be a major blow for Barcelona as captain Andres Iniesta already missed the 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid due to a muscle injury.

Meanwhile, Thomas Vermaelen and Rafinha Alcantara were also on the sidelines on Wednesday night and could be unavailable for the La Liga opener, with the latter having been out of action since undergoing a knee operation in April.

Valverde, meanwhile, will be hoping Barcelona complete the signings of Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho and Borussia Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele in the coming days in order to ease his difficult start to life at the Nou Camp.

The former Athletic Club Bilbao boss backed his current squad to put the defeat to Real Madrid behind them and enjoy a strong start to the new La Liga season against Betis.

"We have missed out on a title, but we must get over the defeat because this has only just started. There's a long season ahead. We have to focus on the league and push on forward," Valverde said.

"When you lose and have the feeling that your opponent has been better than you then you can only assess the technical side of the game, psychologically we wanted to win but it wasn't to be and now we have to recover psychologically but we are a good team and we will adapt."