Opponent watch: Atletico Madrid receive major fitness boost before facing Barcelona | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are set to face off against Atletico Madrid thrice in the next ten days, starting off with a La Liga encounter tomorrow night at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.

Ahead of the crucial encounter, Barça have recovered two key players, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde, who have recovered from their hamstring injuries and trained normally.

Jan Oblak back for Atletico Madrid

In the same vein, AS reports that Atletico Madrid have been boosted by the return to training of key star Jan Oblak.

He has now recovered from the side discomfort that caused him to miss Atletico’s last three matches, against Getafe and Real Madrid in La Liga, as well as the Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Tottenham Hotspur.

The Slovenian international took part in the first part of Friday’s session, the final training before the league meeting with Barcelona.

Back in training. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

He worked alongside fellow custodians Juan Musso, Salvi Esquivel and Daniel Rubio, under the supervision of goalkeeping coach Pablo Vercellone.

As such, Oblak is expected to return to the starting line-up against Barcelona tomorrow, although Musso has performed well in his absence.

Other injury concerns for Atletico

While Oblak’s return is positive news, not all updates from the training ground were encouraging.

Midfielder Rodrigo Mendoza and right-back Marc Pubill did not train with the main group and remain in recovery.

Both players are among those closest to returning from injury, but are unlikely to be available for tomorrow’s match against Barcelona as they continue to train individually.