Arda Turan is new Barcelona injury concern ahead of Granada and Manchester City games
KEY POINTS
- Former Atletico Madrid star picked up a knock against Espanyol following a tackle from Martin Demichelis.
- Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Jeremy Mathieu, Andres Iniesta and out-of-favour Aleix Vidal remain on the sidelines.
- Catalans visit the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
- Rafinha Alcantara and Jasper Cillessen returned to training.
Arda Turan is the latest Barcelona star to give Luis Enrique injury concerns after the Turkish international missed the Thursday training session before appearing in a promotional event with his right ankle heavily bandaged. But Rafinha Alcantara and Jasper Cillessen did train and could be ready to return to action ahead of a crucial week which sees the Catalans hosting Granada on Saturday before their Champions League clash with Manchester City on Tuesday (1 November).
Turan missed the dramatic 3-2 victory over Valencia at the weekend due to a fitness issue. But the 29-year-old overcame the problems to return to action in the Catalan Super Cup defeat to Espanyol on Tuesday night.
The former Atletico Madrid playmaker started in a much-changed Barcelona line-up against Quique Sanchez Flores's side as Luis Enrique rested most of the players who started in the win over Valencia, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
However, Turan was forced off in the second half of the game after receiving a knock to the ankle following a heavy tackle from former Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis.
Barcelona are yet to comment, but the Turkish international looks a big doubt for at least the La Liga game with Granada on Saturday after missing Thursday training. He later attended a promotional event organised by the club with his right ankle heavily bandaged, wearing flip-flops and with a pronounced limp considerably – as shown in a video release by Sport.
The news is another blow for Enrique as the Turk was expected to play a big role in the coming games with Granada and Manchester City after Andres Iniesta was ruled out for up to eight weeks due to a knee injury.
Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Jeremy Mathieu and out-of-favour Aleix Vidal also missed the training session, with the first three ruled out for Granada and expected to miss the trip to Manchester.
In better news for the Barcelona manager he welcomed back Cillessen and Rafinha in the training session. The second-choice keeper has been out of action since suffering an ankle injury on international duty earlier this month while the Brazilian missed the last two clashes with Valencia and Espanyol due to a minor fitness issue.
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