Barça News
Ter Stegen and Umtiti are back in Barcelona training
Barcelona have been going through an injury crisis in the last few months. The latest addition to Barça’s injury list was Ronald Araujo. However, the Blaugranas’ luck might chance as two players have come back to training after lengthy setbacks.
The two players in question are Marc-André Ter Stegen and Samuel Umtiti. The former hasn’t featured in the fixtures since the 8-2 drubbing suffered in Lisbon. For Umtiti’s, he hasn’t played for Barça since the 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo in June where he was dire. After such big injuries, having these two players back is a relief for Culés. While Neto has been superb in goal, Ter Stegen is world-class and Umtiti can provide backup at the back.
❗Ter Stegen and Umtiti partly trained with the group today. pic.twitter.com/nzZE8wM6Kx
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) October 29, 2020
With Ronald Araujo out for a month, Barcelona gain in Umtiti a competent, although declining, centre-back. The former Lyon prodigy hasn’t played like his former self of late and has to prove a point. For Ronald Koeman, having a centre-back on the bench is a relief, even if he’s not the best. The goal now for Umtiti is to get back to his best. Let’s not forget there was a debate between him and Clément Lenglet before his injuries.
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In an interview with Ziggo Sport, former Dutch footballer, and coach Marco van Basten talked about the grave situation at Barcelona following their 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in gameweek 10 of La Liga.
Van Basten was, like many other football fans who watched the game against Atletico, of the opinion that Marc-Andre Ter Stegen should have never rushed out of his goal in an attempt to make the desperate clearance. He exclaimed, “…he shouldn’t have done that at all. Unbelievable!”
The legendary footballer also talked about the situation at Barcelona surrounding Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, and the controversy stemming from the comments from Griezmann’s uncle about the club captain. He also made sure to speak about their on-pitch performances, which have been nothing extraordinary.
“Messi and Griezmann are playing badly. They’re playing like cake bakers who don’t know what to do.”
Marco van Basten built on this quote about Messi and Griezmann, saying, “Messi is not happy with the situation at Barcelona. And then also that hassle with Griezmann. It is a chaotic mess. We don’t see the fantastic player and person we know.”
Lionel Messi has not been included in the team to face Dynamo Kyiv tonight, and the burden to create and score will fall on the shoulders of Antoine Griezmann, who spoke to the media in length yesterday about his far-from-ideal time at Barcelona.