Barcelona Coach Confirms Star Player Will Travel Despite Injury Concern

The star forward trained away from the main group on the eve of the game, but his coach insists there is no cause for alarm and fully expects him to travel with the squad.

“He trained separately. He’s fine. He’ll travel. We’ll see,” the coach said in his pre‑match press conference, explaining that the player had felt pain from a knock and was kept apart as a precaution. “He had pain from a knock and is training separately. But he says he’s fine and could play tomorrow.”

The medical staff will wait until matchday before making a final call, and the coach made it clear that no decision has been taken on whether to rest him.

“We have to wait to see if he plays tomorrow. We’ll decide. I don’t know if he’ll rest or not. He wants to play. He doesn’t like to train separately,” he said. “He’s in very good shape. His mentality and morale are improved. In the last match, he was outstanding. For him, playing is better than training. It’s the right thing for him to start so he can recover; I think it was good that he started the first three matches.”

The message was blunt: the player is pushing hard to be involved, and the coach trusts his competitive instinct, even if the final word will come closer to kick-off.

Broader Challenge

Attention then turned to the broader challenge ahead. The coach did not dress it up.

“It’s football, anything can happen. We have to focus our efforts where they matter. It will be tough. But we want to win. And we know it won’t be easy,” he said, framing the tie as another examination of his squad’s growing resilience.

Asked about the overall level of his group, he pointed to what he sees every day on the training pitch as proof that Barcelona are equipped to chase major honours again.

“When I watch training I always think that the quality of the team is very good, how we press, pass and compete. In each rondo you can see that it is the highest level but in the end the important thing is to win the titles in Barcelona. The quality of the squad is top.”

The standard, he believes, is already there. Now it has to translate into trophies.