Alejandro Balde suffers horrific injury as he gets substituted early on for FC Barcelona

Alejandro Balde, a defender for FC Barcelona, was taken out on a stretcher halfway through Saturday's La Liga match against Las Palmas. Balde seemed to be having a lot of trouble when the medical team treated him on the field after he sustained a hard hit to the throat.

Balde looked to be having trouble breathing, so FC Barcelona's medical staff tried to help him get up at first, but he eventually left on a stretcher. Gerard Martin replaced Balde, and manager Hansi Flick is hoping that Balde won't be sidelined for an extended period of time.

FC Barcelona has a full tiring schedule over the upcoming weeks. Tuesday is the Catalans' next game, and they will play Real Betis the following weekend. The Champions League matches against Dortmund and La Liga matches against Leganes and Atletico Madrid will then round up the calendar year for Flick's team.

Hansi Flick's team was already missing defenders Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo for Saturday's La Liga game, so Balde's departure is a further worry. Before Saturday's game, the 21-year-old had made 16 appearances across all competitions after suffering an injury that ended his season in January of this year. He returned in time to assume a crucial role with new manager Hansi Flick.

Las Palmas record stunning win against FC Barcelona

After breaching FC Barcelona's press from a goal-kick, Las Palmas found Sandro Ramírez alone on the right side and scored against his old team with a rocket into the bottom corner. When Raphinha shot a rocket from the outside of the box and found the bottom corner twelve minutes later, the home team eventually cracked the door following a prolonged period of intense pressure inside the final third.

A long ball off the right wing reached Fábio Silva, who defeated Héctor Fort to the ball and slotted it into the net that put the away team back ahead, giving Las Palmas the lead again. It was the winner in the evening game which meant that the title race is still a long way to go if Real Madrid win their remaining matches.