FCBARCELONA.CAT

29.07.2007 14:07

Barça enjoy short break

Marc Guillén

Barça's squad were given a day of rest on Sunday after returning from their six-day stay in Scotland on Saturday evening, but they will not be able to relax for long as training resumes on Monday.

After the mini-tour in Scotland, Frank Rijkaard opted to allow his players a day off. The physical training in St. Andrews has been intense and a break was welcomed, but th players now face four days back at work before departing for the Far East on Thursday. At 18:30 on Monday evening, the squad will return to training on the pitch in front of La Masia, with the exception of Carles Puyol, Gaby Milito, Lionel Messi and Rafael Márquez.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Barça squad will continue working as they prepare to play games in China, Japan and Hong Kong in early August.

China next

The tour of the Asia will begin on Thursday and will last for nine days, August 3 to 11. At 13:00, the Barça party will take off on their 8,816km trip to Beijing, the capital of China. Once they arrive in the city they will have a short time to recover from jet lag. After the nine-hour journey the players will arrrive at 22:00 CET, but the local time will be 06:00 on Friday morning.

To acclimatise the players will quickly begin work according to local time and will train on Friday afternoong. On Saturday training will switch to the stadium where their first game will take place and where the Olympic Games will be held next summer.

Friendly outing

Barça's first encounter of the tour will take place on Sunday and fitness levels should be higher after another week of work on the training field. Rijkaard's team play Beijing Guoan at 20:00 local time, 12:00 CET.