FC Barcelona arrive in Turin

A practically complete FC Barcelona first team squad has travelled to Turin on a charter flight that left the Catalan capital at 10.55am CET and touched down in the northwest Italian city about an hour later.

Given the importance of the Champions League quarter final first leg with Juventus on Tuesday at 8.45pm CET, manager Luis Enrique has decided that Sergio Busquets, Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal should travel too, even though the former is suspended for this match and the latter two are both injured. Carles Aleñá and Àlex Carbonell of Barça B were also on the flight, while the only first teamer not travelling is Rafinha, who recently underwent surgery.

After arrival in Piedmont, the players were transferred directly to their hotel to get some rest. At 6.15pm CET, first Javier Mascherano and second Luis Enrique will be giving official pre-game press conferences, and when they’re done they’ll be joining the rest of the party for a training session in the venue for tomorrow’s clash, the Juventus Stadium.

The travelling group also includes a number of FCB directors (Jordi Cardoner, Jordi Mestre, Jordi Moix, Javier Bordas, Silvio Elías, Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca and Didac Lee), plus CEO Òscar Grau, UEFA delegate Amador Bernabeu, director of professional sport Albert Soler, technical secretary Robert Fernández, international assessor Ariedo Braida and director of football Raúl Sanllehí.