Villarreal defender Mateo Musacchio will be sidelined for a minimum of three weeks with a fractured wrist, according to coach Fran Escriba.
The 26-year-old centre-back was forced off the pitch in the 87th minute of his team's 1-1 home draw against Barcelona on Sunday after falling awkwardly on his right arm.
Musacchio has started in 16 games for Villarreal -- 12 of those in La Liga.
"Mateo's injury is a shame," Escriba said after Sunday's game as reported in El Mundo newspaper. "He is going to be out for at least three weeks.
"He is a very important player for us, more so at this stage of the campaign. It's a big loss but we can only react and with the players that we have, we can do that."
Villarreal, fifth in La Liga, host Real Sociedad on Wednesday in the second leg of their Copa del Rey round-of-16 tie and face a 3-1 deficit.
Musacchio will also miss his team's trip to Deportivo La Coruna, the home games against Valencia on Jan. 21 and Granada a week later.
The South American is expected to recover in time for Villarreal's Europa League round-of-32 first leg encounter against Roma at the Ceramica stadium on Feb. 16.
Nicola Sansone will miss Saturday's encounter at Depor through suspension after the Italian forward was shown his fifth yellow card against Barca for dissent.
Sansone, who scored his seventh league goal on Sunday and has set up two more in 17 league starts, was thrilled to have contributed to his team taking a point against the Spanish defending champions.
Sansone had put the hosts ahead with a right-footed shot that hit the post before finding the net but a late Lionel Messi free-kick denied Villarreal all three points.
"A draw is a good result for us," Sansone told Onda Cero radio. "Barca are strong and have great players. It's normal that Messi scores. I'm happy with my goal. It was important.
"I was lucky that the ball hit the post and went in."
