El Clasico: Five Injured Barcelona Players Return To Squad Ahead Of Real Madrid Clash

Barcelona manager, Xavi may have more players to shuffle in his team in Saturday’s La Liga El Clasico match against Real Madrid.

Naija News reports that the two Spanish giants would battle points this weekend at Camp Nou.

According to Spanish outlet El Partidazo de COPE (via MadridXtra), five Barcelona players who had previously been injured participated in the team’s training session on Friday in preparation for the showdown at Camp Nou.

These players include Robert Lewandowski, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha, and Jules Kounde. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain if they will be able to play for the Catalan club against Madrid this weekend.

Lewandowski, who had an ankle injury, had missed Barcelona’s last three games across all competitions. De Jong (ankle sprain) has been out of action since mid-September,

Raphinha (muscle injury) has missed four games. Also, Pedri (hamstring injury) has played just two games this season, while Kounde (knee injury) has missed Barcelona’s last two matches.

Prosecutors Drop Criminal Charges Against FIFA President Infantino

In other news, the president of the world football governing body, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, is free from the allegations hanging on him as Swiss Prosecutors dropped the criminal case against him today, October 26.

Before the prosecutors dragged him to Swiss court, FIFA’s ethics committee completed its preliminary investigation in August 2020 and determined that Gianni Infantino had broken no rules.

A lawsuit against Infantino was filed in July 2020 over an alleged covert meeting with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.

The prosecutors claimed that Infantino’s meeting with Lauber broke office rules and that the Swiss-Italian football administrator was involved in aiding and abetting corruption.

However, earlier today, the Swiss prosecutors declared that their investigations had “invalidated” the claims made against Infantino.

They said their investigation did not confirm that the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland was “instrumentalized” into “unusual, inexplicable, erroneous or even criminal acts or omissions.”

In reaction to the development, Infantino said in a statement: “This is a full and clear victory for me, for the new Fifa and justice.

“It is now clear that the accusations against me were mere attempts by poor, envious, and corrupt people to attack my reputation. If these people have some dignity left, they should at least have the decency and apologize for their actions and the damage caused.

“Indeed and with no surprise, the investigation fully and clearly confirms that I have always acted lawfully and correctly, always defending exclusively the interests of Fifa and football.”