Updates on the wellbeing of two key members of Xavi’s Barcelona squad have come to the fore online this evening.
The players in question? João Cancelo and Marc-André ter Stegen.
Both defender Cancelo and shot-stopper Ter Stegen, of course, were unavailable for selection to boss Xavi this past weekend, as Barca were put to the sword in dominant fashion by arch rivals Real Madrid.
The former is currently sidelined with a knee injury, suffered during a La Liga meeting with Las Palmas earlier this month.
Ter Stegen, meanwhile, has been on the treatment table since early December, after being forced under the knife to solve an ongoing back problem.
The hope was that Cancelo, for one, would be fit to make his return this Thursday, when Barcelona face off with Unionistas in the Last-16 of the Copa del Rey.
According to Sport, however, this will in fact not prove to be the case, with the Manchester City loanee yet to be given the green light for a return to training with the rest of the Blaugrana’s squad.
The news regarding Ter Stegen, on the other hand, is of a more encouraging nature.
Though the German international remains some way off his comeback to the pitch, as per Sport, confidence is growing that he will be fit and ready to feature from the off in the first leg of Barca’s Champions League showdown with Napoli next month.
Conor Laird | GSFN
