Neymar Jr groin injury confirmed

Tests conducted by the FC Barcelona Medical Services on Thursday morning have confirmed that Neymar Jr has a minor groin strain, as had already been diagnosed on Tuesday. The Brazilian’s presence in the next few matches will depend on how the injury progresses. The player suffered the injury during the training session at the BayArena prior to the Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen.

Meanwhile, the first team squad got straight back to work after ending the Champions League group stage with a 1-1 draw in Germany. Barça’s goalscorer, Leo Messi, was given permission to miss the session for personal reasons. Luis Enrique called on the services of all of the other available first team players, as well as Samper of Barça B.

The focus has switched rapidly to the next Liga fixture, at home to Deportivo at 4.00pm  CET on Saturday, with just two days to prepare for the clash. Barça are currently top the table with a two-point margin over Atlético Madrid (who entertain Athletic Bilbao on Sunday), and have just one further training session scheduled before the match. That’s at the usual time of 11.00am CET on Friday, to be followed by a press conference with Luis Enrique, which will be streamed live here at www.fcbarcelona.com with an English translation.