Barcelona ended up losing the Catalan Cup against rivals Espanyol 1-0 in Tarragona on Tuesday evening.
One of the few first-team regulars in the side was Arda Turan who recovered from an elbow injury that saw him ruled out of the weekend La Liga clash Valencia.
Turan started for Barca and was described as the ‘best player’ on his team by Spanish sports newspaper Sport.
The full review was as follows: “The Turkish midfielder suffered an early scare when he appeared to get injured in a challenge with Martin Demichelis. Fortunately was able to carry on. It wasn’t his best performance, but there were more pros than cons and he looked Barça’s best player.”
Barca boss Luis Enrique has decided to rest the MSN – Messi, Neymar and Suarez – as well as Ter Stegen, Rakitic, Sergio, Mascherano, Digne, Sergi Roberto and Umtiti for the clash.
The La Liga giants were also without Pique, Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Cillessen and Aleix Vidal due to injury leaving Enrique short of options.
Several youngsters were included in the 18-man squad going into the clash including Masip, Denis, Arda, Paco Alcácer, André Gomes, Mathieu, José Suárez, Palencia, Mujica, Nili, Marlon, Moisés, Martínez, Sarsanedas, Aleñá, Alfaro, Gumbau and Carbonell.
Turan is expected to feature against Granada in the La Liga over the weekend and could end up filling in for Iniesta who is out injured for the next 6-8 weeks.
