Jordi Alba & Gerard Pique Recover From Injury to Be Included in Barcelona Squad for El Clasico

Barcelona boss Quique Setien will have both Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique at his disposal for this Sunday's Clasico, with the defensive duo both included in the 18-man squad.

Alba has missed the Catalan giants' last two games after he was forced off with an abductor injury during his side's league clash with Getafe recently. 

Pique, meanwhile, began La Blaugrana's last 16 first leg Champions League tussle away to Napoli last time out, but picked up an ankle problem late in the game. The Spaniard was in visible pain and, as a result, was replaced by Clement Lenglet. 

It was unclear whether either player would be fit in time for Sunday's crunch clash with ​Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, but Barcelona have now taken to their ​official website to confirm their 18-man travelling squad - which includes both ​Pique and Alba.

​Barça state that the available first-team players had their final training session ahead of the trip to Madrid on Saturday, with Alba one of those to take part. After the Spaniard completed the session, he was declared fit and Setien was free to include him in his squad. 

This will come as a major boost for Barça and Setien. After sweeping aside Eibar 5-0 last time out in the league, they moved back to the top of the table. As for Los Blancos, they were defeated 1-0 by Levante, while they also fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

The gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table is just two points, underlining the importance of a result for both sides. 

Against Napoli, Antoine Griezmann operated more centrally for Barça, with Lionel Messi picking up pockets of space, while Arturo Vidal also played further up the field. However, Setien could hand Martin Braithwaite his first start for the club against Madrid, after he was seen ​operating as the third forward in his side's recent practice match during training.