BARCELONA
Barcelona injury update: will Lewandowski, Pedri and Raphinha be fit for El Clásico?
A trio of players are giving Barcelona hope that they will be fit for the crunch game against Real Madrid in LaLiga at the end of the month.
Robert Lewandowski is cruising along in his efforts to arrive fit and healthy for Barcelona’s date against Real Madrid on October 28 (10:15 a.m. ET / 7:15 a.m. PT). AS understands that the feelings surrounding his recovery could not be better: he hardly feels any pain in the left ankle that he damaged and over the next few days he is expected to begin training on the pitch.
He still has two weeks ahead of him to get back to full fitness before the game against Real Madrid. From within the dressing room the feeling is that there is a sense of “moderate optimism” regarding his return for El Clásico in LaLiga, which now a possibility; he will, however, not be hurried under any circumstances. Given this recognition, the option of him going under the knife to rush him back is ruled out.
Doctors say Lewandowski’s recovery ‘going better than expected’
The player himself even admitted in an interview with Polish media that “the doctors are surprised because the recovery process is going better than expected”.
The original diagnosis was that Lewandowski was set to be out for 4 weeks: given he injured himself on October 4 in the narrow win over Porto in the UEFA Champions League, it looked extremely unlikely that he was going to recover in time. However, the worm has turned and the forward seems to have slashed up the predicted timeline.
Raphinha and Pedri are both recovering well
The optimism surrounding Barcelona’s striker is also carried over to their Brazilian winger, Raphinha. The forward suffered a hamstring injury at the end of September and the initial diagnosis with the ex-Leeds player was 5-6 weeks on the sidelines. However, his recovery is also going incredibly well, so much so that nobody within the club is committing to ruling him out of El Clásico as things stand.
As for Pedri, the midfielder is in the final stages of his recovery, and along with Raphinha and Lewandowski, Xavi could have some surprise faces in the dressing room when the time comes for Barça to take on their eternal rivals, with only Frenkie de Jong and Jules Koundé confirmed as unavailable.