Squad back in training ahead of Saturday game

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Baraca's first team squad will be back in training this evening after a three day break. The squad will train four times this week ahead of the visit to Mestalla this weekend, when the team will be looking for their seventh league win on the run.

2009-10-06_ENTRENAMIENTO_FCB_015.JPGOnce again though, Guardiola will be faced with a reduced squad as just six of his players - Pinto, Valdés, Maxwell, Pedro, Jeffren and Bojan will be available and will possibly be supplemented with players from Barça Atlètic or the youth team.

First batch of internationals back on Wednesday

The internationals who have already returned to Barcelona - Alves, Márquez, Xavi, Puyol, Keita and Touré will be back at work on Wednesday morning for the training session which begins 11.00. Alves is waiting on Dunga's decision to release him or not after he picked up a yellow card that means he misses Brazil's game against Velanzuela.

Evening sessions on Thursday and Friday

2009-09-03_ENTRENO_12.jpgThursday sees another evening training session(18.00) at which Ibrahimovic, Abidal, Henry, Busquets, Piqué and Iniesta are scheduled to be present, though Leo Messi will not have arrived back in time to train. Friday's session is set for 18.00, which should give the Argentinian star time to get back from his country's all important game against Uruguay.

Return trip on Saturday

2009-09-26_VUAJE_WEB_69.JPGThe team will leave for Valencia on Saturday morning and return straight after the game, ready for Sunday lunchtime's training ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Rubin Kazan. On Monday the squad will train at the Nou Camp at 18.00.

Thursday morning training

The few players remaining after the international exodus enjoyed a relaxed training session on Thursday morning.

This morning’s session was the first of two planned for Thursday. With the bulk of the players away with their national squads, the session was restricted to the same five senior players that trained on Wednesday: Pinto, Márquez, Pedro, Iniesta and Maxwell.

Reserves make up the numbers

Maxwell took a full part in the session. The group was joined by reserve team youngsters Jonathan, Jordi Masip, Gustavo, Nolito and Ilie.

A light session

The usual warm-up exercises were followed by a circuit combining speed, agility and shooting practice. Next came some work on pressing after which the players did some stretching exercises and then gradually returned to the changing rooms.

Guardiola active

Josep Guardiola and assistant coach Tito Vilanova took an active part in the session. Guardiola also gave Pinto some stopping practice and exchanged passes with Iniesta.

Upcoming sessions

The next session will take place at 7 pm this evening and the final session of the week will be on Friday at 9.30 am. Training will then take a break and resume on Tuesday 8th.