Luis Enrique neither confirmed nor denied the availability of Neymar for Barcelona’s Club World Cup attempt.
It was put to the Coach at a Press conference that with Neymar not spotted in any of Barca’s training sessions so far, he must not be fit.
“He’s following the normal process of recovery. Just because you haven’t seen him, doesn’t mean he hasn’t trained,” Enrique replied, AS reports.
“There are other places he can prepare. I’m not fond of taking risks. We’ll decide in due course whether he’ll be called because first we have to win a semi-final.”
Barca play Guangzhou Evergrande in their semi-final, meeting the winners of River Plate vs. Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and Enrique also discussed the opposition.
“We prepare as any other normal game. We’ve got copies of their last three games and we’ve analysed them like any other rival in both defence and attack,” he noted.
“We’re in Yokohama and a competition like this doesn’t come every day. That’s a huge motivation. Guangzhou aren’t only an intense, physical team.
“They’ve got a right-back who could play in Spain and a centre-back good on the ball. And they’re used to winning. They deserved to beat Club America [in the quarter-final]. They have surprised me.
“And on top of that, all Barca’s semi-finals in the Club World Cup have been difficult.
“Robinho? He’s 31 and that’s a wonderful age to play football. He could be at his most fulfilled. I don’t know if he is.
“He played through the middle in the quarter-final. He’s a player of top quality.”
