Abidal Out Indefinitely With Liver Tumor

The football world was shocked to hear that French international would be missing out on the remainder of the season due to a liver tumor that was found on Tuesday.  It was announced on the Barcelona website that starting left back would be operated on Friday in order to remove the benign tumor.

Abidal will be under the care of doctor Josep Fuster Obregón at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. 

There were very few people that would doubt that Abidal was one of the team's most consistent performers so far this season.  His performance in El Clásico against Real Madrid was the first match where you could see him truly breaking out. 

Since his arrival from Lyon back in 2008, Abidal had problems adapting with Barcelona, but it was this season when he finally turned it all around.  Abidal became one of the most indispensable players for Pep Guardiola this season.  Whether it was at left back or in the middle, Abidal was able to perform.  So good was his solid play that Guardiola decided to play him more often at center back.  He also dropped Gabriel Milito further down in the depth chart.

His best moment was when he scored at San Mamés against Athletic Bilbao in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.  His first goal with the Blaugrana happened to be one of the most important of his career.  His score made the difference in the 1-1 encounter that helped Barca advance on away goals.

Abidal is originally from Martinique but earned caps with the French national team on 55 occasions.  He took part in the 2006 World Cup campaign that saw France go to the final against Italy.  His luck was not the same four years later as Les Bleus would crash out in the group stage.