It is a Catalan derby miracle! Very positive injury news, for both Gavi and Frenkie De Jong! Especially Gavi, who has returned to training this week. This is the first time he has trained since tearing his ACL about 10 months ago. Don’t expect him to feature at Girona though, as he still has to be eased back into it all.
His return to action is still a couple, to a few weeks away (given the very long layoff).
FC Barcelona at Girona FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. Sept 15ย 4:15 CET, Estadi Montilivi, Girona, Spain
Barca Preview Material:ย Team Newsย ย Starting XI Prediction
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
La Liga Standing, Form: Gironaย 5th, 7 pts, DLWWย FC Barcelona 1st,ย 12 pts, WWWW
Google Result Probability:ย Gironaย 23%ย ย Drawย 24%ย ย FC Barcelona 53%
Barca Team News
As for the update on De Jong, his ankle has healed up enough now that he could return to training next week, so he should be back on the pitch before too long. Elsewhere Mundo Deportivo reports that Dani Olmo could start this match on Sunday, so his knock has healed up.
Meanwhile Fermin Lopez (biceps muscular issue) should return in a couple weeks. Finally, Ronald Araujo, Marc Bernal and Andreas Christensen remain sidelined, as they are longer-term injury absentees.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
He currently contributes to USA Todayโs NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and theย Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN.ย You can follow himย onย Linked Inย andย Twitter.
