FCBARCELONA.CAT

14.02.2008 13:26

Back to La Masia

Sandra Sarmiento / Jordi Clos

The players were back at the La Masía training grounds on Thursday after spending Wednesday at El Montanyà. They received a visit from Samuel Eto’o, who arrived in Barcelona earlier in the morning.

Thursday’s training session at La Masía was followed with great interest. The morning began with a visit from the newly arrived Samuel Eto’o who came straight to the Camp Nou from Barcelona airport. The striker underwent a number of medical tests and took no part in training. The session was intense and finished off with a hotly disputed training match.

Eto’o returns

Samuel Eto’o made a long awaited appearance at the beginning of the session on his return from the Cameroon and the Africa Cup of Nations. He greeted his team-mates one by one and introduced himself to new boy José Manuel Pinto. He then went off for a medical to determine the extent of his injury niggles.

Abidal trains earlier

After welcoming back Eto’o, the session started with the usual ball control exercises. Sylvinho worked separately on his recovery programme while Abidal was absent with the permission of the Club for personal reasons. However, the French defender had already trained earlier with one of the fitness coaches. Meanwhile, Zambrotta did some circuit training, also accompanied by a fitness coach.

Emphasis on the ball

T he session was characterised by the presence of the football. The players went through a number of routines, moving the ball around before finishing off with a shot on goal. They then divided up for a training match. The teams were made up of: Valdés, Milito, Thuram, Touré, Deco, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Ronaldinho and Ezquerro –without a bib-, against Pinto, Puyol, Márquez, Edmílson, Iniesta, Xavi, Giovani, Bojan and Henry, with the orange bibs.

The match was hotly disputed and ended in a 2-2 draw, with goals from Henry, Xavi Gudjohnsen and Messi.