FCBARCELONA.CAT

19.05.2007 12:53

Giuly and Motta travel to Madrid

Míriam Nadal

Giuly and Motta return to the squad for the trip to Madrid to face Atlético on Sunday. The injured Márquez, and the dropped Saviola, Ezquerro and Sylvinho will stay behind.

Ludovic Giuly and Thiago Motta both enter Frank Rijkaard’s plans for Sunday’s showdown at the Vicente Calderón, after missing out on the league visit of Betis to the Camp Nou last week. The French player was left out a week ago, while Motta was suffering from an abscess in his right leg. The last time the Italian-Brazilian played for Barça was on March 31 in the Barça v Deportivo game.

Rijkaard has decided he can manage without two strikers, Javier Saviola and Santi Ezquerro, while left back Sylvinho has also been dropped for the second week in a row.

Behind closed doors

T he squad trained this morning at 11.00 in the Camp Nou, which as usual on days before big matches, was a private affair. The only player to miss this important workout was Mexican Rafa Márquez, who is still recovering from a leg injury.