Long-term absentee Jordi Alba returns to Barcelona training ahead of Malaga and Celtic games

Barcelona star Jordi Alba has handed a boost to manager Luis Enrique by returning to training ahead of a busy week which will see the La Liga giants hosting Malaga on Saturday (19 November) four days before their Champions League trip to Celtic. Furthermore, Ivan Rakitic, Andre Gomes and Jasper Cillessen were also back in Tuesday's workout after their respective international commitments.

Alba is yet to play any games since the Champions League 4-0 victory over Manchester City on 19 October after suffering a number of fitness issues during the opening part of the season.

The Spanish international left-back was only just returning from another injury against Pep Guardiola's side when he had to be replaced by Lucas Digne earlier in the game after suffering a setback. Barcelona later ruled him out for around two weeks after he was diagnosed with an "elongation in the femoral biceps of the left leg".

Alba has been on the sidelines in the past four weeks, as Barcelona wanted to avoid any further injury risks. The former Valencia star has subsequently been unable to feature for his country during the current international fixtures. The pacy 27-year-old left-back has instead seized the opportunity to step up his recovery ahead of a return to action in Saturday's La Liga encounter with Malaga.

He returned to training in the video released by Barcelona during Tuesday's morning workout alongside the rest of the players who are not on international duty. Meanwhile, Luis Enrique also welcomed back Rakitic, Gomes and Cillessen while including five players from Barça B in Marlon Santos, Carbonell, Abeledo, Alfaro and Marc Cardona in the training session.

Gerard Pique was however absent in training as reports in Spain claimed he had travelled to London for Spain's friendly match against England at Wembley on Tuesday night. The centre-back may also be ready to feature against Malaga after Barcelona revealed that he was close to returning to the team.

Meanwhile, Andres Iniesta, Samuel Umtiti and Jeremy Mathieu also remain on the sidelines while at least the first two are ruled out for the game against Malaga.