Gerard Pique had a miraculous recovery from a knee injury to be part of the Barcelona team for Tuesday’s Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain.
The defender suffered a ligament injury in Barça’s defeat by league leader Atletico Madrid in late November and initially feared he would miss the rest of the season. However, less than 90 days later, Pique was called up by Ronald Koeman for the first leg of the round of 16 at Camp Nou, despite refusing surgery at the end of last year. Instead, Pique, who turned 34 earlier this month, opted for more conservative treatment and club sources say the medical team is “amazed” at the speed of his return to fitness.
Koeman announced on Monday that the central defender may be available against PSG and said that if he was on the squad it is because he is in shape to start the game if necessary.
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Piqué returned to full training at the end of last week, although he is not in a position to play since he has not played an official game since the 1-0 defeat at Wanda Metropolitano on 21 November.
The temptation to use Piqué from the start against the French champions on Tuesday increased with news that Ronald Araujo has been dropped. Araujo sprained his ankle in the Copa del Rey first leg defeat in the semifinal to Sevilla last Wednesday and did not recover in time to face PSG.
Barça are also without right-back Sergi Roberto and strikers Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho.
PSG, on the other hand, miss Neymar and Angel Di Maria due to injury, but coach Mauricio Pochettino hopes Marco Verratti will be able to play again after a knockout in training on Monday.