AS.com

Carles Puyol was today given the all clear by Barcelona's medical staff. The central defender, who dislocated his elbow on 2 October in Barça's 0-2 win against Benfica, returns to Tito Vilanova's squad just 45 days later. He was originally expected to be out for eight weeks.

To say the club captain has been in the wars would be an understatement. He failed to make Euro 2012 because of a knee injury, which was aggravated on 15 September in the game against Getafe, and on 2 October he dislocated his elbow against Benfica in Lisbon. Gerard Piqué was also out of action until recently, which proved to be a constant headache for Vilanova. Piqué picked up a foot injury in the clash against Spartak Moscow.

Training with those available

Vilanova held a training session with the players at his disposal. Adriano and Thiago trained seperately, while Víctor Valdés was given the option to train or not after recently becoming a father. In the end, the 'azulgrana' keeper decided to train alone before the rest of his teammates.

Villa, Messi and Alves, who trained in the gym on Thursday, took part in a full training session, hel in the Ciudad Deportiva.

The squad will train for the last time before the Zaragoza game at 11.30 hours on Saturday morning (CET) in the Camp Nou