Duo on road to recovery

Injured pair Fernando Morientes and Ivan Helguera both showed themselves to be well on the way to recovery in yesterday's training session.

Both did some light running and even a little ball work at the Madrid sports complex. Striker Morientes has recovered well from the muscle strain that has kept him out of the team recently, and will be rejoining the main group for training on Monday. He has been ruled out of next Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Anderlecht, but may be fit for the following weekend’s league encounter with Valladolid.

Meanwhile, midfielder Helguera’s recovery from the operation on his toe will take a little longer. Even if things go as smoothly as they have up to now, it will still be over a month before he is available to coach Vicente del Bosque.