Afellay is back

The Dutchman’s recovery from injury has moved into the next phase and on Thursday he was seen training on the pitch for the first time in almost five months

Ibrahim Afellay worked out separately from the rest of the team at the Ciutat Esportiva on the first occasion he has been seen on a football pitch since sustaining his injury. In the company of a physio, the Dutchman did circuit training and running exercises at different paces.

This is a further step forward in what have been more than four months of recovery for Afellay after an operation on cruciate ligaments in his left knee. He underwent arthroscopy on October 3 with doctors Ricard Pruna and Ramon Cugat, whose verdict that day was that he would be out of action for about six months.