Valverde: Umtiti's injury cost Barça two points against Celta

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde felt the timing of Samuel Umtiti's injury was the key to his side's dropped points on Saturday. 

Umtiti got injured in the build up to Celta's second half equaliser, allowing the Galicians to claim a point from their visit to Camp Nou. 

"We had chances to go 3-1 up," Valverde said. "Then that moment [the injury and equaliser] has cost us two points. In normal circumstances you have an extra defender.

"Samuel had to pull out of the race. But we still tried. We had Pique hitting the post, Paco Alcacer’s header, Paulinho and Leo’s chances…" 

Valverde added: "To lose a player like Samuel’s a blow. He was in a great moment of form."

SPORT understand that the French defender will be out for eight weeks and will miss the Clasico later this month. 

Meanwhile, Valverde said: "We are Barca and we always want to win. Sometimes it’s possible, other times it’s not.

"At Valencia we played well and we drew and today we had chance after chance and we drew. You always get situations like this in a season."