Barcelona's Dembele back in training ahead of Atletico, Man Utd games
A torn hamstring looked certain to keep Ousmane Dembele out of Barcelona's Champions League quarter-final tie but he is back in training.
Published : Apr 04, 2019 23:49 IST
Barcelona has welcomed Ousmane Dembele back to training ahead of a crunch LaLiga clash with title rival Atletico Madrid and its Champions League quarter-final with Manchester United.
Dembele sustained a torn hamstring after coming off the bench in Barca's 5-1 last-16 second-leg win over Lyon last month, with Ernesto Valverde accepting he knew he was risking the winger's fitness.
It was expected Dembele would miss the tie against United, with the first leg to be played on April 10 and the return held at Camp Nou six days later.
But the France forward returned to training on Thursday, giving Barca a boost ahead of the visit of Atletico - which is eight points behind the leader - at the weekend.
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Atletico has injury issues of its own heading into Saturday's meeting of the top two with Alvaro Morata suffering a sprained ankle in their LaLiga victory over Girona this week.
With Diego Costa also a doubt due to a muscle problem and Thomas Lemar not expected to be fit, Antoine Griezmann and Nikola Kalinic may be the only attackers available to Atleti coach Diego Simeone.