Xavi Hernàndez and Dani Alves are back in the squad and will be among the 18 players travelling to Valencia for Wednesday night’s match. Reserve keeper Miño also gets a call up.
The squad of 18
Pinto, Miño, Alves, Adriano, Milito, Piqué, Abidal, Maxwell, Busquets, Mascherano, Keita, Xavi,
Iniesta, Afellay, Bojan, Villa, Pedro and Messi.
Barça are recovering missing players. They are going to Mestalla with
the now fully recovered Xavi Hernàndez, who had damaged tissue in his left soleus muscle against
Bilbao, and also Dani Alves, who has served his one-match suspension.
The injured Carles Puyol, Víctor Valdés and Jeffren are still absent, and the lack of the
first-choice keeper means young Rubén Miño will be in the squad as cover for Pinto.
Training without Guardiola
The players gathered for training today on pitch number 2 at the Ciutat
Esportiva Joan Gamper, and the eighteen were joined on the field by Jeffren, who is well on the
road to recovery and was able to join in with the mainly ball-based session. Nolito also joined the
first team, as he is suspended for the forthcoming Barça B match with Cordoba.
Pep Guardiola was the main absentee. He has been struggling with lower back pain for the last
two weeks, and today the matter had worsened.