Gavi and Gabriel Jesus complete Barcelona’s penultimate training session before Mestalla clash

Gavi and Gabriel Jesus took part in Barcelona’s entire penultimate training session before Sunday’s match against Valencia at Mestalla. Both players had completed only part of Thursday’s session, but trained fully on Friday.

Gavi, whose full name is Pablo Páez Gavira, returns after missing matches against Athletic and Rayo Vallecano because of a contusion suffered in Barcelona’s opening league game at Elche. Gabriel Jesus is the latest addition to Hansi Flick’s squad. Barcelona brought in the Brazilian as a recognised centre-forward after the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.

Another feature of the session was the presence of Iu Martínez, a Juvenil A winger who also trained with the first team on Thursday. Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong remained the only absentee.

Sunday’s fourth-round league match will be Barcelona’s final appearance at the current Mestalla before Valencia is expected to move to the Nou Mestalla. If the planned timetable holds, Valencia will begin the 2027-28 season at the new stadium, ending more than a century at its present ground. Barcelona will hold its final training session of the week on Saturday before Flick’s pre-match news conference.