Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen is set to be sidelined for around six weeks with a hamstring injury, the La Liga champions have announced.

The defender sustained the injury during Belgium’s Nations League win over Switzerland on Friday and tests on Monday confirmed the extent of the problem.

A Barcelona statement read: “Vermaelen will not play with his national team against Holland, in the match Belgium will play in Brussels (on Tuesday), nor will he be available for the coming games with Barcelona.”

Barca have a testing run of fixtures immediately after the international break, with successive home matches against LaLiga leaders Sevilla, Inter Milan and Real Madrid in October.

Vermaelen’s six-week lay-off means he could also miss all of Barca’s November fixtures, which include the return Champions League meeting with Inter plus trips to the likes of Atletico Madrid and PSV Eindhoven.