Barcelona midfielder stretchered off with injury against Real Madrid

In what comes as a terrible blow for FC Barcelona, midfield mainstay Frenkie de Jong has been stretchered off with an ankle injury during their clash against Real Madrid.

In what has been a tightly contested El Clasico up until now, Barça have been unlucky to not be ahead after a dodgy VAR decision to not give a goal scored by Lamine Yamal.

And right on the cusp of half-time, the Catalans were dealt with the blow of De Jong’s injury.

The Netherlands international went into a 50-50 challenge with Federico Valverde and came off worse for the wear as he saw his ankle get jarred in the process.

Having gone down immediately, De Jong was attended to by the Barcelona medical staff and after a few seconds it became apparent that the Dutchman would be unable to continue.

Another injury for De Jong. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

While the midfielder did get back on his feet, it was only momentary as he was then helped onto a stretcher and carried off the field with tears in his eyes.

De Jong received a warm reception from the Santiago Bernabeu as he was taken off, with Pedri coming on to replace him.

It must be remembered that De Jong had suffered an ankle injury only last month and had recently made his way back on the pitch.

It remains to be seen how serious the issue is but the early indications did not look good for the midfielder or Barcelona.