Barcelona have welcomed Ousmane Dembele back to training ahead of a crunch LaLiga clash with title rivals Atletico Madrid and their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United.
Dembele sustained a torn hamstring after coming off the bench in Barca’s 5-1 last 16 second-leg win over Lyon last month, with Ernesto Valverde accepting he knew he was risking the winger’s fitness.
It was expected Dembele would miss the tie against United, with the first leg to be played on April 10 and the return held at Camp Nou six days later.
But the France forward returned to training on Thursday, giving Barca a boost ahead of the visit of Atletico who are currently eight points behind the leaders at the weekend.
Atletico have injury issues of their own heading into Saturday’s meeting of the top two with Alvaro Morata suffering a sprained ankle in their LaLiga victory over Girona this week.
With Diego Costa also a doubt due to a muscle problem and Thomas Lemar not expected to be fit, Antoine Griezmann and Nikola Kalinic may be the only attackers available to Atleti coach Diego Simeone.
