{"id":63070,"date":"2026-07-30T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/63070\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:16:10","slug":"boost-for-barcelona-as-key-duo-return-to-group-training-la-masia-gem-absent-due-to-overload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/63070\/","title":{"rendered":"Boost for Barcelona as key duo return to group training; La Masia gem absent due to overload"},"content":{"rendered":"

FC Barcelona received a timely lift during their training camp at St. George\u2019s Park as Raphinha and Alejandro Balde both returned to group activities ahead of the club\u2019s latest pre-season fixture, reports SPORT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian winger took part in part of Thursday morning\u2019s session, while Balde completed the full workout after overcoming recent back discomfort. <\/p>\n

It was the Blaugrana\u2019s fifth training session in England and the penultimate one before facing Birmingham City. The squad will return to the Bobby Charlton pitches later in the day for a second training session.<\/p>\n

Raphinha begins pre-season carefully<\/p>\n

Raphinha has officially started preparations for what will be his fifth season as a Barcelona player.<\/p>\n

After enjoying a well-earned summer break, the Brazilian joined the camp on Wednesday. He is easing his way back into full training following a difficult spell with injuries that affected both his club and international campaigns.<\/p>\n

\"Raphinha,Back in training. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

His aim is to rediscover the form that made him one of Barcelona\u2019s standout performers during the 2024\/25 season under Hansi Flick, when he emerged as a genuine Ballon d\u2019Or contender.<\/p>\n

The winger\u2019s World Cup campaign with Brazil came to an early end. Raphinha featured in the opening two group-stage matches before suffering a thigh injury against Haiti. <\/p>\n

Although he was included in the squad for Brazil\u2019s last-16 clash with Norway, he was unable to make an appearance as the Selecao were eliminated.<\/p>\n

Barcelona are therefore taking a cautious approach to his return, prioritising his long-term fitness over immediate match involvement.<\/p>\n

As such, he is not expected to feature against Birmingham City<\/a>, while a return for Monday\u2019s friendly against Preston North End remains a possibility.<\/p>\n

Balde completes full session<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Balde also provided encouraging news by completing the entire training session.<\/p>\n

\"AlejandroBack in group training. (Photo by Stuart Franklin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The left-back has recovered from the minor back problem that had limited his workload in recent days, forcing him to train individually<\/a>. Now, the La Masia product is back working normally with the squad.<\/p>\n

Despite his progress, Barcelona are also expected to leave him out of the Birmingham friendly as the coaching staff continue to manage his fitness carefully.<\/p>\n

Tommy Marques a doubt<\/p>\n

The only player absent from Thursday morning\u2019s session, aside from long-term absentee Frenkie de Jong, was Tommy Marques.<\/p>\n

The La Masia midfielder missed training because of muscle overload and is considered doubtful ahead of the upcoming friendly.<\/p>\n

With pre-season entering a crucial stage, Hansi Flick continues to his players\u2019 build fitness, integrate young prospects and fine-tune his squad as Barcelona prepare for the start of the 2026-27 campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FC Barcelona received a timely lift during their training camp at St. George\u2019s Park as Raphinha and Alejandro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[933,92,222,223,94,8120],"class_list":["post-63070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-alejandro-balde","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-raphinha","tag-tommy-marques"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}