Barcelona welcomed Samuel Umtiti back to first team training on Saturday, ahead of their difficult trip to the Estadio de Anoeta to face Real Sociedad. The former Lyon man has been sidelined since injuring his hamstring on international duty with France. Club medical staff initially diagnosed Umtiti with a three-week lay off and after his recovery progressed positively, it now seems very likely that he will be available for El Clasico on December 3. Fellow central defender Gerard Pique was also hard at work on Friday and Saturday to shake off a niggle which threatened to keep him out of Barcelona's Champions League win over Celtic.
However, he will start Sunday's difficult clash against Real Sociedad alongside Javier Mascherano, given the injuries to Umtiti and Jeremy Mathieu. Others who were absent from training for the reigning Spanish champions were Arda Turan, who is suffering from a fever, as well as Aleix Vidal and Jordi Masip, who were absent for personal reasons. Luis Enrique will include players from Barcelona's B side for their trip to San Sebastian.He suffered a partial tear to the lateral collateral ligament of his knee in a LaLiga encounter with Valencia almost five weeks ago and although he wasn't expected to feature for at least two months, according to an early medical prognosis, there is a chance the Spain international will be fit for El Clasico.
Iniesta has worked tirelessly in rehabbing the injury from the moment it occurred with the December 3 date with Real Madrid at the forefront of his thoughts. At this time, Barcelona are optimistic that he may have a part to play in that contest after he joined in first team training with his teammates on Friday. The club's communication department released an image of the midfielder involved in passing drills as part of the session. Samuel Umtiti is also hoping to shrug off a muscular injury he picked up on international duty to be fit for the arrival of Los Blancos. The good news comes in stark contrast to that of their rivals, Real certain to be without Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Alvaro Morata for the encounter, with doubts raised over Casemiro and Raphael Varane's participation.
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