Gavi returned to Barcelona’s group training sessions on Thursday morning. His teammates greeted him with a slap tunnel, which the club shared on their social media.
Not even half an hour had passed in the Spain-Georgia match in Valladolid on 19th November last year when a seemingly frivolous gesture seriously injured Gavi. The Barcelona midfielder was trying to control a long ball and felt a knock to his knee. He had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament with meniscus damage, and since then he has been unable to return to training with the rest of the squad… until Thursday.
The club announced on their social networks a return that had been planned for a few days. Hansi Flick welcomed the academy player back to morning training. His teammates greeted him with a hall of smacking that, despite the pain, was full of affection. The player himself came out of the slap tunnel with a smile from ear to ear and running around as he is expected to do, soon, on Montjuic.
For the moment, it is too early to imagine him in the ‘Cules’ squad and there is no hurry to do so, as the Catalans’ start to the season has been outstanding. The coach has been distinguished as the best of August in the eyes of La Liga and Lamine Yamal, as the best U23. The Catalan side are La Liga leaders with four wins in four games and a four-point lead over Real Madrid, Atletico and Villarreal.
In the Spanish national team, something similar has happened, because, although Luis de la Fuente missed him at the European Championship, to the point of asking him to travel to Germany to be part of the squad even though he could not play, ‘La Roja’ won the championship.
