FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.02.2009 12:08

Iniesta back with the squad

Berta Brau / Vanessa Forns

Andrés Iniesta trained with the FC Barcelona first-team on Friday as the players continued their preparations for the trip to face Atlético de Madrid at the weekend and the world’s media watched on from the sidelines.

The Blaugrana were focussed on the game in the Vicente Calderón on Sunday and on Friday coach Pep Guardiola took his players out to Pitch Number One at the Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper. The opening few minutes of the session were open to the media and the main novelty was Iniesta as he trained with the players as they went through their warm-up exercises and ball games.

Recuperation process

The midfielder is almost fully recovered from the muscle strain that he suffered in his left thigh on Tuesday last week in training. An initial time of two weeks was given for him to return to playing and he has already missed the games against Espanyol and Olympique Lyonnais.

Milito back in training

Gaby Milito returned to training with the squad on Thursday, after nine months on the sidelines recovering from a knee injury, and he too was present again after having a check-up before the session began. Carles Puyol was able to train again after missing out the day before.

Abidal the only absentee

23 members of the FC Barcelona first-team squad trained with the only absentee being Éric Abidal. As usual, the session started with warm-up exercises and ball games before the players were put the put through some physical circuits.