Sergio Aguero is edging closer to full fitness after returning to training with Barcelona and could be on course to make his debut against Real Madrid.
The striker arrived on a free transfer from Manchester City over the summer, but suffered a calf injury before the start of the season with reports suggesting he could be out for 10 weeks.
But the 32-year-old has responded well to treatment and after returning to the gym last month, he is now back on the training pitch looking to hone his skills again.
Barcelona's Twitter account showed the forward working on a drill twisting and turning while passing the ball against a panel before applying a finish into a training goal.
According to Mundo Deportivo last month, his impressive recovery means he may now be able to start training with team-mates for the first time in the middle of the October after the international break.
The news will come as a boost for manager Ronald Koeman who has claimed that his side will improve once key attackers including Aguero and Ousmane Dembele return to the fold.
Barca have struggled so far this season, as heading into the international break they were just ninth in LaLiga and had lost their opening two games in the Champions League, putting severe pressure on Koeman.
Aguero though could make a timely return in time for El Clasico on October 24 at the Nou Camp, where the club will hope to pull themselves back into the title race when they take on current league leaders Real Madrid.
As well as pressure from inside the club, Koeman has also been criticised outside of it by former Barca star Luis Suarez.
The striker was sold to Atletico Madrid last year for just £5.5million following a phone call from the then newly-appointed Koeman.
But the Uruguayan haunted his former club last weekend by netting the winner in a 2-0 win over Barca before celebrating with a phonecall gesture.
Suarez claims that the phonecall to end his Barca career didn't even last a minute.
'The Koeman phone call to tell me that he was not counting on me lasted 40 seconds, it is not the way to get rid of a legend,' Suarez told Gerard Romero's 'Jijantes FC' Twitch channel via MARCA.
'First he told me that I would not be in his plans and then he told me that if I did not resolve my contract I was going to play (in the first game of the season) against Villarreal.
'He lacked personality to tell me things clearly, if he did not want me or if it was really the club that did not want me.'