FCBARCELONA.CAT

19.11.2009 19:07

Internationals return

Edgar Fornós / Jordi Clos

All the CF Barcelona players that had been away on international duty return to training on Thursday with only Thierry Henry and Yaya Touré remaining inside to do some recovery work.

Pep Guardiola was able to have almost his entire squad to prepare ahead of the game against Athletic Club in San Mamés this weekend after spending several days working with only a handful of players and youth teams starlets.

Dani Alves, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué, Touré and Henry were all back at the club's Ciutat Esportiva training complex.

17 players

As well as Touré and Henry, the other absentees were Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was having tests on a thigh strain, and Éric Abidal, who has a knock. That let 17 first-teamers to be put through their paces.

Things were back to normal at the training ground in Sant Joan Despí after seeing only a small number of players report each day and a game against visiting side Bolívar a rare highlight.

Barça will training again on Friday at the Ciutat Esportiva before Guardiola holds his usual pre-match press conference.