Luis Suarez is fit to boost Barcelona's ranks ahead of Leganes trip

Posted Saturday, November 18, 2017 by PA

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has been boosted by the availability of Luis Suarez as his side look to crack one of LaLiga's meanest defences on Saturday.

Suarez sat out Uruguay's friendlies against Poland and Austria during the international break to aid his recovery from an ongoing knee problem.

And Valverde had positive news about the striker's progress on Friday, confirming the prolific 30-year-old has been training well and is fit to help Barca attempts to unlock a Leganes side who have kept seven sheets in 11 LaLiga matches this term.

Valverde told a press conference: "He's well, recovered.

"He underwent special treatment last week and this week he has been very strong and active in training."

Leganes' impressive defensive record has taken a bit of a hit recently, with the team conceding five of the eight goals they have let in this campaign in suffering defeats at Sevilla and Valencia in their last two outings.

However, they still boast the third meanest backline in the division - only Barca (four goals) and Atletico Madrid (six) have conceded less - and Valverde admits Saturday's clash will be the start of a testing run of fixtures for his league leaders.

"What concerns us about Leganes is that they concede very few goals. At home they have conceded in only one of the five games they've played," he said.

"It's a team that supports each other and believe in what they do. They have enthusiasm and they transmit that to each other.

"We'll have to do well to win because it's the start of a very difficult run from here until Christmas," added the Barca boss, whose side have to play the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus, Valencia, Villarreal and Sporting Lisbon before the end of the year.

Valverde, who is likely to be without Javier Mascherano for the next month, was also asked about Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann during his pre-match press conference.

The France international has this week been closely linked with a move to the Nou Camp at the end of the season, but if there is a deal in the pipeline, Valverde was giving little away.

He said: "He's a great player, but I'm happy with the players I've got. In the future we'll see."

Despite their back-to-back defeats, Leganes are still healthily-placed in ninth spot and coach Asier Garitano hopes his well-organised side can put on a better show on Saturday then they managed in last season's corresponding fixture with Barca, when they were thrashed 5-1.

Garitano said on his club's website: "This season I hope to find a better version than the Leganes of last season and compete in these kinds of games, which would be a big step for us.

"Our opponents scored five against us last season and the fans were happy and applauded, which is bad. But that was last year. Now I hope that opposing teams are all finding it much harder, and that Leganes are getting better all the time."