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August 18, 2014

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Suarez set for Barca debut today

BARCELONA coach Luis Enrique says he plans to let Luis Suarez debut in a friendly today while the Uruguay forward completes his competitive-match ban for biting another player.

“I would like him to be able to play for a few minutes tomorrow,” Enrique told a news conference after yesterday’s training.

“Not many, because he has not played for some time, but he has worked very well when training on his own.”

Suarez was cleared on Thursday to play friendlies for Barcelona after the Court of Arbitration for Sport softened FIFA’s decision to ban Suarez from all football activities for four months for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup.

The CAS ruling allows Suarez to train and play friendlies, but he won’t be able to play a competitive match until October 25, meaning his official debut could come in the first Clasico of the Spanish league campaign against Barcelona’s bitter rival Real Madrid.

Barcelona hosts Mexican club Leon today in the Joan Gamper Trophy match, a friendly the club traditionally uses to present its team for the upcoming season.

Barcelona bought Suarez for a reported 95 million euros (US$127 million) from Liverpool last month.

Enrique, a former Barcelona player who replaced Gerard Martino after he stepped down at the end of last season following a trophyless campaign, insisted yesterday that Suarez’s absence at the start of the season “does not harm us at all”.




 

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