The last international break brought only bad news for FC Barcelona. The Catalans not only saw one of their most important midfielders, Gavi, tearing his ACL while playing with Spain, which will keep him out for the rest of the season but also lost their second captain, Marc Andre Ter Stegen, to an injury.
The German goalkeeper is suffering from problems in his lower back and was unable to feature in the game against Rayo Vallecano because of this. For now, Ter Stegen is working with the goal of getting back to full fitness for the upcoming Champions League match against Porto, which is scheduled for the coming Tuesday.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the goalkeeper is well on track to meet this objective, as he returned to training on Sunday. The German trained with his teammates, but was able only to complete a partial training session and not a complete one.
The team will return to training on Monday, and at that time, Ter Stegen will once again assess his pain, and the medical team will then determine whether he is ready to take to the pitch against Porto.
Further hints on whether Ter Stegen will be able to take part in the match will be provided by Xavi Hernandez, whose press conference is scheduled to take place after the Monday training session ends.
For now, Xavi and the fans will both be hoping that the German goalkeeper, who is the second captain but has taken the armband in all but three matches this season, can return to the goal in this match, which is crucial for Barcelona.
A victory against Porto will pave their way to the knock-out rounds of the Champions League, but a loss can significantly complicate things for the Catalans going into the last match of the group stage against Royal Antwerp.