Barcelona train as La Liga re-start nears

Barcelona train ahead of the return of La Liga

SHOWS: BARCELONA, SPAIN (JUNE 1, 2020) (BARCA TV - Broadcasters: NONE Digital: NO USE UNTIL 1330GMT JUNE 1, 2020) 1.

LIONEL MESSI AND LUIS SUAREZ WALK ON TO TRAINING PITCH 2.

ANTOINE GREIZMANN AND SAMUEL UMTITI WALK ON TO PITCH 3.

PLAYERS IN GROUP AT TRAINING SESSION 4.

PAN ACROSS PLAYERS 5.

VARIOUS OF GOALKEEPER MARC-ANDRE TER STEGEN TRAINING 6.

UMTITI 7.

MESSI TRAINING 8.

VARIOUS OF TRAINING SESSION 9.

MESSI AND GREIZMANN 10.

UMTITI AND ARTURO VIDAL 11.

COACH QUIQUE SETIEN (WHITE FACE MASK) WITH ASSISTANT 12.

UMTITI RUNNING 13.

VARIOUS OF PLAYERS TRAINING STORY: Barcelona will recommence their bid to defend the Spanish title on Saturday June 13 away to Real Mallorca after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Real Madrid will host Eibar on June 14, organisers La Liga announced on Sunday.

The season kick backs into action with a local derby between Sevilla and Real Betis on June 11 and there will be fixtures for the following seven days, with Barca hosting Leganes on June 16 and Real playing at home to Valencia on June 18.

As in the Bundesliga, which earlier in May became the first major European league to start up again after being disrupted by the pandemic, all La Liga matches until the end of the season will take place without spectators.

Barca were leading Real by two points after 27 matches when the campaign was postponed back in March due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Organisers have only released scheduling details for the first two rounds of fixtures although La Liga chief Javier Tebas confirmed that there will be matches every day of the week until the season is completed on July 19.

The Spanish top-flight is poised to be the second of Europe's top five leagues to resume after the Bundesliga, with England's Premier League re-starting on June 17 and Italy's Serie A kicking off again on June 20.

(Production: Andy Ragg)