Barcelona suffered elimination from the Copa del Rey earlier in the week despite winning 3-0 against Atletico Madrid, due to their 4-0 loss in the first leg last month. Having put up a strong performance in the previous match, irrespective of the outcome, Barcelona will want to build on that and generate more steam heading into the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 against Newcastle United next week.
Fly across the world not knowing if I could swing a bat and then have to rehab with them versus being here, it just didn't make sense, especially getting ready for a season. It's more important to be fully healthy. Obviously in the short term I want to go, but you're more inclined to push through something that we shouldn't push through with such a strict timeline, so we're going to take a step back and make sure it fully heals.
According to Premier Injuries, after 1,383 days were lost through injury in Klopp's last season at Anfield, in 2024/25 that figure dropped to just 764 under Slot. Only Forest (673) lost fewer days through injury absence in the Premier League.
I played 717 games for Chelsea and I could say, genuinely, I was 100 per cent fit for five of them. When I went into a game, I rarely didn't have a rib, arm, leg, ankle or some sort of injury – something always hurt.
Borthwick urged his players to use the opportunity to ask how they dealt with setbacks after England's Six Nations hopes went up in smoke for another year after last Saturday's dismal 42-21 defeat by Ireland, seven days after they were outclassed by Scotland.
At the time, not many of Salech's teammates were close to him in terms of goalscoring, and with veteran frontman Callum Robinson as the only natural replacement, who had cultivated himself as a reliable back-up throughout the season, many were wondering who Brian Barry-Murphy would turn to.
[He] tried to go back out there," Ott said. "[Had to] save him from himself. [He] wasn't moving great when he came back in." Booker left the game with 5:24 remaining in the opening quarter with Phoenix trailing 19-16 and didn't return until 4:46 remained before intermission. He played just 71 more seconds before leaving the contest again with 2:35 left to play in the first half and heading to the locker room. The five-time All-Star didn't return.
Joshua Kimmich is currently following an individual training program as he's still struggling with ankle pain since November's international break. He's not expected to be sidelined for a long period, but internally they're not putting any pressure on him. The most important thing is that he's fully fit and pain-free during the decisive phase of the season. This is the right approach, but it is arguably a bit too late already.
The return of Dani Olmo could not have come at a better time for Barcelona. After a difficult month on the sidelines, the former RB Leipzig man marked his comeback in style by scoring against Espanyol last weekend. That goal did more than just help the team on the night, it reintroduced Olmo into the conversation ahead of the Spanish Super Cup.
The question being rightly asked was: Should Mike Vrabel bring him back for this game, wait another week, or even wait until the playoffs to unleash Williams on the Patriots' opponents? Williams suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 11 against the Jets. And that's never an easy injury to recover from. It can often take a minimum of multiple weeks or even longer.
Indeed, the Spanish international is still feeling the after-effects of the efforts he has made since returning from injury, and as such, is following an individual training plan with the club not taking any risks. Barcelona's plan was for Pedri to rest this week after the match against Osasuna, but he had to come on for 15 minutes in Guadalajara to help resolve the game, which was still level when he stepped onto the pitch.
