Barcelona will be relieved that Leo Messi and Jordi Alba are nearly back from injury. In the Argentine's case, injured a handful of days before the game against Villarreal, his time out of action could be even shorter than expected. Leo was not called up for the game against Getafe, but could return in the Champions League game against Inter at Camp Nou.
Jordi Alba fell injured in the first half of the Borussia-Barcelona game a few days ago. He didn't finish the game and did not play in the defeat against Granada, where Junior was still out of action and it is clear that Barca do not know how to cope without their offensive players.
However, the usually-reliable Barca side are missing players in attack and in defence.The injury to his left biceps femoris injury is close to recovering and Jordi Alba could return to Valverde's team on Monday.
His intention is to test himself and see if he can at least be in the call to have some minutes in the second half of the game against Inter.
Back to the Argentine, he could also test himself in the training session this Monday. Both of them, no doubt, will benefit from the match taking place next Wednesday.
It already seemed that Messi was returning early due to the urgencies of the team and the problems against Villarreal only confirmed that he was not yet physically ready. Although the injury was different.
But it happens a bit as with Jordi Alba, Valverde does not want to risk either and, at most, they will be on the bench and not starting, with the intention of playing some minutes in the second half.
If possible, it is more than likely that the goal of the two is to be available for Barcelona-Sevilla next Sunday.
A match for which it is almost certain that Ansu Fati is not there, who needs a lot of rest, while Ousmane Dembélé, the other injured player, will be a doubt for both games, with the league clash as a possible date of reappearance.