Barcelona loanee Douglas declared fit to face parent club despite bizarre injury on the bus

Barcelona loanne Douglas Pereira has declared himself fit to play against his parent club on Saturday (24 September) despite the fact he couldn't train with the rest of his Sporting Gijon teammates on Thursday due to an injury scare. Yet, reports in Spain are claiming that the right-back picked up a bizarre muscle injury on the return journey, from Vigo to Asturias, due to bad posture while sleeping on the bus.

Douglas tenure at the Nou Camp was already hampered by a number of fitness problems. The 26-year-old right-back was signed in the summer of 2014 to provide competition for Dani Alves at but only made eight appearance during his first two seasons at the Nou Camp.

Barcelona thus offered his services to a number of clubs during the summer transfer window, sending him on loan to Sporting only in the dying days of the summer transfer window – after being repeatedly knocked back by other teams. Yet, Sporting agreed that the player will be actively involved in the team during his loan year, while reports in Spain claimed that the Catalans accepted to pay his wages in full in exchange.

But Douglas' bizarre tenure in La Liga has continued at Sporting. Yet, he was forced off only minutes after making his debut for the Asturian side earlier this month during a friendly game against Eibar due to an injury. The Brazilian recovered quickly from his first setback, to make his first official appearance for Sporting during a 5-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid on 9 September.

The Barcelona loanee failed to impress manager Abelardo Fernández and was dropped for the defeat to Celta Vigo on Wednesday night.

Yet, according to Radio Station Onda Cero, the worst came after the game as Douglas suffered an injury in his gluteus on the way back to Gijon, due to sleeping badly on the bus.

Douglas consequently missed the Thursday training session and there were fears that he could be also out for the game against his parent club, as Sporting host Barcelona on Saturday.

However, the Brazilian has now played down those concerns, claiming that he is fit and ready to play should the manager decide to use him ahead of other teammates

"I'm fit and available to play. I made specific job (on the problem away from my teammates) but I am well," Douglas explained after missing the Thursday session. "The manager is always the one who decides the line-ups. I have come here to help."

"This is a special week for me, it is always special to play against Barcelona. We know about the difficulties to play against them. They are one of the best."