FCBARCELONA.CAT

13.11.2009 12:15

Nine in for training

Sandra Sarmiento / Vanessa Forns

Pep Guardiola again had only a handful of players for training on Friday with seven first-team stars and two youngsters from the Juvenil A being promoted to join them.

For the second time this week FC Barcelona trained with so few players as the international games have seen so many regulars jet off to play in World Cup qualifiers or friendly games. Those absentees have left just Víctor Valdés, José Manuel Pinto, Gaby Milito, Rafael Márquez, Pedro, Bojan Krkic and Maxwell to train.

Jeffren recovers

Jeffren Suarez worked on the edges of the pitch with his coach as he looks to shake off a knock. The forward stretched a muscle in his leg during the game against Cultural Leonesa on Tuesday and was told he would bbe out of action for a week.

Two youngsters

Along with the seven first-team players Rafa Alcántara and Gustavo Ledes were promoted from the Juvenil A team to work under the guidance of Guardiola for the morning. The two Brazilians both have European passports and both play in the same left-sided position.

Match preparations

One key difference in training from Thursday was that there were not Barça Atlètic players available as they prepared for the game against Alicante at 18:30 on Sunday (Barça TV).