Status of Barcelona pair Torres & Pedri confirmed ahead of El Clasico

Status of Barcelona pair Torres & Pedri confirmed ahead of El Clasico Status of Barcelona pair Torres & Pedri confirmed ahead of El Clasico

By Conor Laird

Published: January 9, 2022 9:17 pm

Last Updated: January 9, 2022 9:24 pm

Status of Barcelona pair Torres & Pedri confirmed ahead of El Clasico

Updates on the availability of Barcelona pair Pedri and Ferran Torres for the club’s upcoming showdown with Real Madrid have been provided late on Sunday evening.

Clasico clash

Xavi Hernandez’s troops are of course set to return to action this coming Wednesday.

After seeing an uptick in form since the turn of the year brought to a halt by Granada yesterday evening, the Blaugrana will turn their attentions towards the Spanish Super Cup, in a trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A showdown with the aforementioned Real Madrid lies in wait, in the latest edition of one of world football’s greatest rivalries – El Clasico.

Status of Barcelona pair Torres & Pedri confirmed ahead of El Clasico

Ferland Mendy of Real Madrid and Gavi of Barcelona compete for the ball during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF at Camp Nou on October 24, 2021 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It is Carlo Ancelotti’s Real who will head into proceedings as heavy favourites to book their spot in the Supercopa finale, having kept alive their charge towards the La Liga title courtesy of an impressive 4-1 downing of Valencia on Saturday.

Pedri to miss out

As such, it goes without saying that Xavi, faced with a remarkable stretch of bad luck on the personnel front since his return to Catalunya, will no doubt be hopeful of having as many of his key performers as possible fit and available to feature from the off in midweek.

One piece of positive news for the Blaugrana boss comes in the form of the return to fitness of Ansu Fati, expected to feature in at least some capacity in Riyadh.

On the other hand, though, Eric Garcia will miss out after picking up a hamstring injury against Granada, whilst the likes of Ronald Araujo and Martin Braithwaite too remain sidelined.

And, if the latest word stemming from the media on Sunday evening is anything to go by, then another pair of high-profile names look set to be unavailable to Xavi, too.

The players in question? Pedri and Ferran Torres.

As per a report from the reliable ESport3, the two Spanish internationals, both of whom sat out proceedings versus Granada, today returned fresh positive tests for Covid-19.

Unless further testing on Monday unveils timely negative results, neither midfielder Pedri nor January addition Torres will therefore be on the plane to Saudi Arabia.