La Liga giants FC Barcelona have, on Sunday, confirmed an altogether timely series of boosts on the personnel front.
Depay not enough
The Blaugrana were of course back in action 24 hours ago.
On the back of Ronald Koeman’s dismissal earlier this week, the Catalans welcomed Alaves to the Camp Nou, for a La Liga clash.
Barca headed into proceedings in the knowledge that a bounce-back result was very much needed, after successive defeats over the course of the last week.
Upon the final whistle sounding on Saturday night, however, the efforts of the hosts, again, came up short.
After Memphis Depay opened the game’s scoring in spectacular fashion following a sustained spell of pressure early in the 2nd-half, Barcelona looked well on their way to all three points:
But the visiting Alaves had other ideas…
Just minutes later, Luis Rioja bagged what proved to be a decisive equaliser, dancing through the heart of the Barcelona backline, before rounding Marc-André ter Stegen and slotting home in style.
Blaugrana boost
Barca, in turn, remain in the depths of mid-table in La Liga, ahead of the predicted appointment of club legend Xavi Hernandez over the coming weeks.
The eventual result on Saturday, though, actually proved just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the woes of the Catalan heavyweights.
This came with a pair of new names having been added to the already lengthy list of injury absentees in the club’s squad.
First up came Sergio Aguero, whose concerning exit from proceedings was today confirmed to have come as a result of a heart problem. And following the summer arrival at the Camp Nou in prematurely departing proceedings was Gerard Pique, who picked up a calf strain.
In turn, with a whole host of the club’s key performers already sidelined with respective fitness problems, it is safe to say that Barcelona could have done with some long overdue positive news.
And, in a boost for not only the club itself, but also the Blaugrana faithful, precisely that was forthcoming earlier on Sunday.
In a post across their social media platforms, the Catalans confirmed that all of Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati and Frenkie de Jong have returned to first-team training.
All three could therefore go on to play some form of role in the club’s crucial Champions League meeting with Dynamo Kyiv in midweek:
SudaisSalah
63
Good news for Barcelona,wish u all the best and overcome these many problems
riqui-puig
27
we Barca are in terrible possition.we don't have money to sign defenders as well as we don't have defenders to defend.our keeper is flop .we miss cahnces Our finishers like Ansu , Ageuro, dembele are absent the only positive is the midfield .