Barcelona unlikely to risk midfielder for Borussia Dortmund clash

Barcelona are well-placed to reach the Champions League semi-finals after their comprehensive 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday. And while the contest is not over yet, the significant margin does mean that the Catalan side are able to take less risks going into the return leg at the Signal Iduma Park on Tuesday.

And the big risk that they could have taken next week was with Dani Olmo, who has been out for the last couple of weeks after picking up a muscle injury in the victory over Osasuna. He is projected to return in the near future, and he does have chances to be involved against Dortmund.

But according to MD, it is not expected that Flick will call upon the Spanish playmaker for the trip to Germany, even if he were to receive the medical green light in the build-up to the fixture.

As per the report, Olmo did part of Thursday’s training session with his Barcelona teammates, and this bodes well for this return in the near future. However, he is ruled out for Saturday’s La Liga match against Leganes, while he is not expected to be considered for selection in Dortmund as Flick does not want to take any risks with his recovery, which makes sense given that it was not Olmo’s first muscle injury of the season.

Olmo was initially ruled out for three weeks, and that timeline will not have been fulfilled by the time Barcelona face off against Dortmund in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. As such, it would be no surprise to see him left in the Catalan capital to continue his recovery ahead of next weekend’s La Liga fixture, which is against Celta Vigo at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.