Barca confirm Alba a doubt for start of season

Barcelona have confirmed that Jordi Alba faces a fortnight on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury, leaving the left-back facing a race against time to make the start of their La Liga title defence.

Luis Enrique's side get their league campaign under way at Athletic Bilbao on August 23, by which time they will have played the Basque club twice in the Supercopa de Espana.

However, Alba looks likely to miss all three of those games due to the injury sustained in Wednesday's friendly against Roma.

Barca ran out 3-0 winners at Camp Nou thanks to goals from Neymar, Ivan Rakitic and Lionel Messi – who was perhaps fortunate to escape sanction for an apparent headbutt on Roma defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.