All is not yet for the best in the best of worlds. But bad news is sometimes added to other, more encouraging ones. This was the case this Wednesday morning at Camp des Loges. In the aftermath of the pubalgia diagnosed in Leandro Paredes which should, operation or not, deprive the Argentinian of competition until the end of the season, Mauricio Pochettino saw his troops expand somewhat for the morning training session.
After having regained his bearings a little the day before, Juan Bernat found his partners with whom he disputed the whole of the collective session. Hit in the left calf, the Spaniard was no longer in condition to claim to join the group since his last tenure in Nice (1-0 defeat) on March 5. With only three potential collective sessions in the legs by Saturday, he could still be a bit short to make the trip to Clermont and only return to the group for the Clasico on April 17.
Will it be the same for Marco Verratti? Victim of a hamstring injury, the Italian did not, as expected, also return with his partners until Wednesday morning. But his last outing in official competition, on March 24 during the fatal match at Squadra Azzurra in the race for the 2022 world cup against Macedonia, suggests that the Italian midfielder suffers less from a lack of rhythm than his Spanish partner.
The only certainty, four days after the card against Lorient (5-1) which saw Mbappé, Neymar and Messi score for the first time since the start of their association in the same match, the MNM was again displayed all smiles , as if ready to put the lid back on this weekend in Auvergne.