Mascherano suffers hamstring strain, out 1 week

Barcelona will kick off its La Liga title defence without Javier Mascherano.

After Mascherano was forced to exit the pitch in the second leg of Barcelona's 5-0 win on aggregate in the Supercopa de Espana, the Blaugrana confirmed that the versatile Argentinian suffered a hamstring strain in his right leg and will be out for one week.

As a result, Mascherano will miss Barcelona's first fixture of the 2016-17 La Liga season, which goes Saturday at home to Real Betis.

With Jeremy Mathieu recovering from a hamstring injury of his own, Barcelona may opt to start Samuel Umtiti against Betis, as was the case on Wednesday.