Last session of the week

The first week of preseason training is over. On another hot and sweaty Saturday morning, the players were back at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper for a final workout before going home to enjoy some rest for the remainder of the weekend. Xavi Hernández was joined by his usual players, as well as the members of Barça Atlètic who have been training with the first team this week. Today's session took the form of a practice match on the Tito Vilanova field, the culmination of several days of intense exercises both with and without the ball. The team will be due back at work on Monday for more of the same. The squad will be much bigger on Monday because all the players who were away playing internationals at the end of last season will all be reporting back for duty too. In the morning, they'll all be taking their routine medicals, and they'll be hooking up with the rest of their team-mates for the 7.00pm CEST session.