The victory over Napoli is just the first step FC Barcelona needed to take in the right direction. With the season still left to fight for until the very end, Barça are aware that their struggles are far from over. Instead, Barcelona continue to believe in their team and regained momentum after the recent win.
Now in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League after a long wait, Barcelona can dare to dream again. Moreover, they currently sit eight points behind Real Madrid in La Liga, but with a game against Los Blancos still left at the Santiago Bernabeu, Barcelona are more than committed to getting a good result there.
Adding even more fuel to this growing fire, however, is some well-received positive news. As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, it seems that Barcelona will not have to take on the task of beating Real Madrid and whoever their Champions League quarterfinal opponents end up being without some additional cavalry on its way to back them up.
This is because two of the team’s most crucial stars continue to recover well. Both Frenkie De Jong and Pedri are gradually improving day by day, and are expected to be back from their injuries sooner rather than later.
In De Jong’s case, the sprained ankle injury was initially quite painful. However, his recovery is going exceptionally well and MD believes that he will be the first of the two injured midfielders to return.
The current date in mind for his return is the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, by which point he will have fully made his recovery.
Pedri, on the other hand, will be a bit more of a risky deployment. His recovery continues to progress at an excellent speed, and it is expected that if not the first leg, he will indeed return to action for Barcelona in the second leg of their quarterfinal clash.
His injury seemed much worse than it ultimately turned out being, but fortunately for Barcelona, the actual problem was not as severe. Now, as Pedri’s recovery begins to pick up speed, Barcelona look to regain one of their strongest players in the eleven.
Both Real Madrid and whoever ends up being Barça’s quarterfinal opponent will possibly have to face both Frenkie De Jong and Pedri simultaneously.
Fortunately for Barcelona, their abilities will bring a whole new level of quality into a Blaugrana team that just managed to dust off the preconceived notions of Napoli.
