A quartet of up-and-coming talents were afforded the chance to impress as part of first-team training at La Liga giants Barcelona on Monday.
As much of course comes amid the mass exodus of Barca stars to have linked up with their respective national squads across the globe.
The break has left Xavi with a threadbare selection of first-team players, namely Iñaki Peña, Iñigo Martínez, Marcos Alonso, Sergi Roberto, Oriol Romeu and Vitor Roque, as well as the recovering Ferran Torres.
To make up the numbers, the Blaugrana’s headmaster, as a result, has called upon a number of youth team players over the course of recent days.
Up-and-coming pair Ander Astralaga and Marc Casadó have featured prominently, the latter fresh off being afforded his La Liga bow in Barcelona’s most recent outing, against Atlético Madrid.
And, as per a report from Jijantes’ Gerard Romero, both, again, were present under Xavi’s watch on Monday, amid preparations for this weekend’s La Liga meeting with Las Palmas.
Even more noteworthy, though, were two more fresh faces spotted amongst the Blaugrana’s ranks in this afternoon’s session.
The pair in question? Andrés Cuenca, and Brian Fariñas.
Cuenca and Brian are both highly-regarded members of the U19 setup in Catalunya’s capital, the former a 16-year-old central defender, and the latter a 17-year-old midfielder.
Conor Laird | GSFN
