#eric-garcia

#eric-garcia

Eric Garcia's omission from the Spain squad is surprising given his excellent season with Barcelona, raising concerns about his future in the national team ahead of the World Cup.

Indeed, according to SPORT, both Lamine Yamal and Eric Garcia were back training normally on the pitch today, indicating their availability for Sunday's clash vs Sevilla. This comes after Lamine missed the training session on Thursday due to some discomfort and did not even attend the team dinner arranged by Ronald Araujo later in the night.

"We're really excited. Starting the year with a title would be fantastic, we saw that last year. The team is motivated," said Eric, kicking things off.

"For a coach, it's great to have a player like Eric. We didn't have De Jong , and we knew Eric would be the right choice," he told reporters.

The club later confirmed that the player had indeed broken his nose, and while it has no direct impact on his football, his situation is critical to be maintained with care to prevent any aggravation. Now, as Barcelona players stepped onto the Camp Nou turf in an open training session, the defender trained with the team with a mask already in place to protect his nose.

Hansi Flick is set to be without another player on Sunday when Barcelona take on Celta Vigo in La Liga as Eric Garcia will miss out with a broken nose. Garcia suffered the injury late on in Barcelona's 3-3 draw against Club Brugge in the Champions League. He said afterwards he thought he'd suffered a broken nose and was taken to hospital after the game.

- Real Madrid hold a "genuine interest" in Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven, according to TEAMtalk. Spurs have no intention of losing the 24-year-old leave -- who hit the headlines this week for his stunning solo goal against FC Copenhagen -- but the door could be opened if they fail to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League, with Paris Saint-Germain also closely monitoring the situation.