Barcelona will find out on Thursday how serious the Jesse Bisiwu injury is, after the 18-year-old was carried off on a stretcher inside 12 minutes of the Copa Catalunya final — a night that ended with Barça Atlètic beaten 1-2 by CE Sabadell at the Nova Creu Alta.
Less than 24 hours after the transfer window shut, the Belgian winger was the last name the Blaugranes wanted on a treatment table. He is the one summer signing who has still not been able to make his competitive first-team debut, and he lasted barely ten minutes of the biggest night of his season so far.
What happened to Jesse Bisiwu
With Sabadell already 1-0 up through an early Gioacchini header, Bisiwu received the ball on the left, nutmegged Sabadell right-back Gonzalo Ávila — better known as Pipa — and was caught by a stamp on his left ankle as he went past. Mundo Deportivo described a challenge that was careless rather than malicious, but the reaction was immediate: Bisiwu signalled for the medical staff and did not improve.
Juliano Belletti sent on Shane Kluivert in the 12th minute and Bisiwu left the pitch on a stretcher with his hands over his face, unable to walk. Vice-president Rafa Yuste consoled him at full-time.
No fracture, but crutches and a protective boot
The first checks were reassuring. SPORT, cited by Barça Universal, reported that a fracture around the ankle has been ruled out. That is the good news. The less encouraging picture came in the second half, when Bisiwu reappeared in the dugout area on crutches, his left foot strapped into a protective boot, to watch the rest of the final.
Fresh medical tests are scheduled for Thursday and will decide whether this is a short absence or something that costs him the opening weeks of the campaign. Until those land, the club is publicly hopeful rather than certain.
Belletti: ‘The referee has to control it’
Barça Atlètic’s coach was pointed about the treatment his young side received. “It is normal, it happens against these teams, we are Barça, we have the ball more, we look to play more and there can be the odd tackle,” Belletti told Esport3. “The referee has to control it more so that it does not happen. It already happened to us with another important player in pre-season, but it tends to happen in football.”
He was referring to Ebrima Tunkara, the 16-year-old midfielder who suffered traumatic ligament damage to his left ankle against Vilanova and faces more than a month out. Belletti was careful to separate the injury from the result: “Sabadell deserved to win, they scored two very good goals and we leave happy to have played very good football, with a very good attitude.”
A stop-start start for an €8.5m signing
Bisiwu arrived this summer in a deal worth around €8.5m and was handed the No.27 shirt when Barcelona confirmed their 2026/27 squad numbers, a marker of how highly Hansi Flick’s staff rate him. He played three pre-season games under Flick and scored twice in the 5-2 win in Basel, then added a spectacular goal for Belletti’s side against Reus.
Since then, visa paperwork has kept him out of competitive first-team action, and the plan was for him to build rhythm with the reserves in Segunda RFEF while training in the senior group. This is the second setback in a matter of weeks for a teenager who was also the subject of an international tug-of-war between Ghana and Belgium.
Barça Atlètic turn to Náxara
Hafiz Gariba’s equaliser was cancelled out by Rahmani’s 87th-minute winner, so Sabadell take the Copa Catalunya and Barça’s ninth title in the competition goes on hold. The filial open their Segunda RFEF Group 2 season on Sunday at 19:00 against Náxara at the Estadi Johan Cruyff — and, on current evidence, they will do it without their most eye-catching forward.
