FC Barcelona has received rare good news on the injury front ahead of its Champions League first leg clash against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, as explained by various outlets including SPORT.
Frenkie de Jong has been out of action since the beginning of March after – like fellow midfielder Pedri – pulling up injured in the first half of a La Liga meeting away at Athletic Club.
De Jong, who suffered an ankle sprain, was expected to recover ahead of Pedri with the Spain international falling to a reoccurrence of the thigh knock that sidelined him in August.
AS put the Dutchman’s recovery time at 4-5 weeks, and this has proven accurate given he returned to the grass of the Joan Gamper CT on Thursday.
At the weekend, with La Liga on pause because of the Copa del Rey final taking over the calendar, seeing how he fared in a training match which lasted around an hour was going to be the litmus test.
As explained by SPORT, De Jong passed it with flying colors and will now make the trip for the first leg against PSG in the Parc des Princes.
It now remains to be seen how big a role De Jong has in the tie, and whether head coach Xavi Hernandez will risk putting him straight back into the first XI from the offset in what should be an intense encounter against the Ligue 1 leaders.
In De Jong’s absence, Xavi has mainly fielded a midfield three of pivot Andreas Christensen, who is usually a center back, and either Fermin Lopez and Sergi Roberto.
With Christensen also on the sick list as of late, however, Gundogan might have to play the more defensive role if it isn’t De Jong, while both Fermin and skipper Roberto get the nod.
Christensen and Pedri also played a part in the training match, but only featured for half of it – or roughly 30 minutes.
SPORT says that everything is “going smoothly” in their recoveries, but a decision on whether they make the squad list for the first leg will probably be made nearer to boarding time.