FC Barcelona open door training session in front of 10,000 fans

Luis Enrique’s squad work out at the Minestadi in front of a big crowd in their first of the week ahead of the cup clash with Espanyol

FC Barcelona has received the support of the fans at the start of 2016 in their traditional open door training session before the arrival of the Three Kings on 6 January, an important date in Catalonia when children receive their seasonal presents. Luis Enrique’s squad carried out a session in preparation for a week in which they have a Copa del Rey game against Espanyol and a league game against Granada. They were not alone as more than 10,000 fans turned up at the Miniestadi to follow the first team’s work out.

The entire available Barça squad was on show with Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal enjoying their newly acquired status as officially registered FC Barcelona players, meaning they could make their debuts in the cup clash with city rivals Espanyol on Wednesday 6 January, a game that kicks off at Camp Nou at 8.30pm CET. The only absentees were long term injury victim Rafinha and midfielder Sergi Roberto who trained on his own.

Cup game on the horizon

The 22 available players came out on to the field at the Miniestadi at 11.25 CET and started the session with a warm up lap of the stadium. Then the players divided themselves into two groups to warm up with ball exercises. One group was formed by Mathieu, Alba, Rakitic, Douglas, Mascherano, Claudio Bravo, Messi, Adriano, Bartra, Alves and Neymar, the other by Iniesta, Suárez, Sandro, Munir, Ter Stegen, Masip, Vermaelen, Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal, Piqué and Sergio.

An exercise on ball retention was followed by the players who started against Espanyol continuing with a recovery session. Those who did not start in the derby on Saturday took part in a training match in which goals from Arda Turan, Bartra and Mathieu were the highlights. The squad then kicked football into the crowd as gifts for the waiting fans and also signed autographs and had their pictures taken as they left at the end of the session.

from News at FCB http://ift.tt/1OuMYoc