Pique out for another week

Tito Vilanova is going to have to go another week without Gerard Piqué, who has still not recovered from his ankle injury. Although it was thought that the longest he could be out injured for was three weeks, the defender has now gone a month out of action, after he injured his ankle in the game against Spartak Moscow.

Vilanova does not want to risk the player at the weekend, as the Barça coach has one eye on the midweek game against Celtic.

"He's not 100% fit. If we didn't risk him against Real Madrid, then we'll be equally cautious against Deportivo, Celtic or Rayo Vallecano. He won’t play until he's right", Vilanova said.

The defender's absence in the team’s starting line-up comes as no surprise. The predicted date for his recovery does not seem any closer, despite the fact that he was about to play against Real two weeks ago. On 6th and 7th September he worked extra hard in training with the aim of being selected, but he eventually failed the fitness tests carried out by the club’s medical team.

In Piqué's absence, Vilanova has two alternatives: to keep experimenting with the defensive partnership used in El Clásico – with Adriano at centre back – or to go back to playing Alex Song with Javier Mascherano. The option with Brazilian Adriano worked well to halt Real Madrid's counter-attacks, as the stand-in centre-back’s pace was a big advantage.

Source: Marca