Barcelona head coach Xavi has said that final decisions on the involvement in El Clasico of the players who have recently been on the sidelines will not be made until Saturday morning.
As it stands, Sergi Roberto is the only confirmed absentee for Saturday's La Liga clash with Real Madrid, as Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha all trained with the team on Friday.
Barcelona would usually release their squad list for a Saturday fixture on the Friday before, but Xavi will hold off until the morning before the match, as he wants to assess how the players have recovered from training before making a decision on their potential inclusion.
"I was surprised too (about the returns to training), players that we were ruling out want to be there, they feel better and we'll see how they are tomorrow," Xavi told reporters during his press conference.
"We'll have to wait to see the list tomorrow to see how they feel after training this afternoon. It's fantastic that they all want to be available."
Despite returning to training, it is still thought to be unlikely that Kounde will be included in the squad, while De Jong and Pedri seemingly both face uphill tasks.
However, Raphinha also trained on Thursday after recovering from a hamstring issue, and he is set to be included alongside Lewandowski, with the Poland international seemingly overcoming the ankle injury that he suffered against Porto in the Champions League earlier this month.
"He (Lewandowski) is fine, I will not give any line-up or clues, he is fine and I will decide tomorrow. If they (Lewandowski, De Jong) are 100%, there is no problem for them to play," said Xavi.
"Everyone has a good feeling and wants to be there, but the staff and the medical staff don't want to force anyone. They want to be there out of commitment but we'll see, we'll decide tomorrow."
When asked about Pedri's ongoing injury issues, the manager added: "We will never know if it's the accumulated games in his first year, it's the first thing you think about but we don't know if it's the main reason.
"We will never know. Injuries are multifactorial. With Pedri, we are on schedule. There is no problem with Pedri or anyone else, if we have to highlight something it's that players who had five weeks to be ready are ready in three weeks. And above all the predisposition of the players. The five players who were out are back."
On-loan Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix has also recovered from the knock that forced him to be substituted during Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage of the Champions League. body check tags ::
