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.