Avalanche of support for injured Gavi

The international break brought dreadful news. Playing for Spain against Georgia, Gavi has completely torn cruciate ligament in his right knee, with additional damage to his external meniscus. He's going to need surgery and will be out of action for some time.

Naturally there has been an outpouring of support for the young Andalusian, whose injury has come precisely at a time when he has become one of the most essential parts of the FC Barcelona game plan.

Indeed, even during the game itself Ferran Torres celebrated scoring the second goal by holding aloft his club and country team-mate's shirt. And the forward reiterated his message on social media after the final whistle, along with other Barça players such as Araujo, Iñigo Martínez, Pedri, Cancelo, Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde, Fermín, Raphinha and Sergi Roberto.

There were also messages from elsewhere, including Ansu Fati, on loan to Brighton and Ousmane Dembélé, who both know exactly what it is like to have your progress halted by injury difficulties. Other posters included Álex Abrines of the basketball team and women's football captain Alexia Putellas.

There were also tweets from outside of the Barça universe. The Spanish federation tweeted its concern, and clubs like Real Sociedad, Cádiz and Valladolid used their own accounts to respond to Barça's own social media posts.

Footballers who published Instagram stories in support of Gavi included Athletic Club's Oihan Sancet and Nico Williams, Atlético Madrid striker Álvaro Morata, Real Madrid's Joselu, and Aymeric Laporte of Al Nassr.

There were also messages from former Barça greats of the calibre of Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Andrés Iniesta, as well Barça and NBA star Pau Gasol, now an ambassador for the club.

And not forgetting, perhaps most importantly, yourselves. We left a message box next to the official announcement of the injury and the response has been non-stop, together with thousands of supportive comments on social networks. Just 20 minutes after opening, the message box already had 2,904 messages, 4,858 after the first hour and inn just three and a half hours, it had already surpassed the 10,000 mark. 24 hours after the story was published, more than 18,500 messages of support had been sent. It all goes to show just how much concern there is among Culers, and how keen they are for the player to make as speedy a recovery as possible..

We stand with you, Gavi!