Barcelona wait on Pique injury as quartet promoted to training before Valencia

Barcelona fans have been left sweating on the results of Gerard Pique's injury scan as the rest of his available teammates returned to training on Monday (5 February) to begin their preparations for the Copa del Rey second leg semi-final against Valencia on Thursday (8 February).

The 31-year-old centre-back scored a 82<sup>nd minute header during the Sunday's 1-1 draw against Espanyol to rescue a point for the La Liga leaders.

But reports in Spain on Monday morning set alarms bells ringing at Barcelona after revealing that the Spain international sustained a knee injury in the final minutes of the game following a tough challenge from Espanyol striker Gerard Moreno.

Earlier on Monday morning AS claimed that the Barcelona defender could be on the sidelines for around month due to the blow, missing the Copa del Rey deciders against Valencia and as well the upcoming Champions League first leg last 16 trip to Chelsea on 20 February.

Mundo Deportivo has since been more optimistic about the diagnosis after claiming that a scan on Monday suggested that the problem is not as bad as first feared.

The Catalan publication says that Pique still needs to undergo further tests to confirm the extent of the blow but they believe that the defender could be back in time to face Chelsea.

Barcelona are yet to give any update on the injury but Pique didn't appear in the video provided by club during the Monday's training session.

Instead, four players from Barcelona B - Rodrigo Tarin, Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Samu Araujo and Dani Morer – were promoted to the training session while the club confirmed that the first-team will enjoy a day off on Tuesday before resuming their activities on Wednesday.

"The first team squad begin preparations at the Ciutat Esportiva on a rainy Monday morning in Barcelona with all the available first team players plus R.Tarín, R. De Galarreta, Samu Araujo and Dani Morer from the B squad. The squad will have a day off on Tuesday this week before returning to training on Wednesday," Barcelona reported on the club website.

Valverde will be hoping to learn more about Pique's injury in the coming hours but it looks like his centre-back will be definitely unavailable when Barcelona visit Valencia on Thursday looking to book a place in the Copa del Rey final, with his side having a 1-0 advantage from the first leg played at the Nou Camp last week.

If that is the case, January signing Yerry Mina could make his debut at Mestalla as Thomas Veramelen remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.