FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.03.2008 19:20

Henry and Touré train with the squad

Sandra Sarmiento / Vanessa Forns

Thursday evening’s training session was the first time this week that Frank Rijkaard could count on all his available players – internationals included - to prepare for the weekend clash against Betis.

Henry and Touré worked out with the group while Puyol was also on hand to test out his ankle.

After several days marked by the absence of the internationals, things were back to normal on Thursday evening. The main news was the return to squad training of Touré Yaya and Thierry Henry, both of whom have been receiving treatment for back problems, which in the case of Henry caused him to miss Franc’s 1-0 win against England in Paris.

Puyol puts his ankle to test

Carles Puyol, who picked up a knock to his right ankle during Spain’s 1-0 win over world champions Italy, also did some light training at the Masía training grounds.

He took part in the warm-up before joining Xavi, Thuram and Gudjohnsen for some jogging. Thuram then continued with some stretching exercises while talking with Rijkaard while the other three returned to the changing rooms. Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued with the usual ball control exercises.

Abidal receives treatment

For his part, French defender Abidal remained in the changing rooms for treatment on the knock he picked up on Wednesday while Samuel Eto'o joined the session later after working out in the gym.

Training match

The remaining players then continued with some passing and shooting practice before splitting into two groups for a training match. With the orange bibs - Valdés, Ezquerro, Zambrotta, Henry and Touré; without bibs Pinto, Edmílson, Eto'o, Giovani and Sylvinho.