BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova led his first team practice on Friday since returning from a 10-week medical stay in New York to treat a throat tumor.
Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura said that Vilanova would direct the session but that he would not accompany the team to Saturday’s Spanish league match at Celta Vigo. Roura says that the club hopes Vilanova can travel with the team to Paris for Tuesday’s first-leg Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain.
In Vilanova’s absence, the team suffered a pair of painful defeats to archrival Real Madrid, but also pulled off a historic 4-0 win to come back against AC Milan in the Champions League. Roura insisted throughout that he was carrying out Vilanova’s orders.
Barcelona leads the Spanish league by 13 points with 10 games to go.
