Barca’s Pique to return from knee injury vs Real

Gerard Pique in action for Barcelona. (Manu Fernandez/AP)

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona says defender Gerard Pique will be available for Sunday’s Spanish league match at Real Madrid.

The Spain international missed last weekend’s 7-0 rout of Osasuna as a “precaution” to rest his right ankle, with Marc Bartra taking Pique’s place in the middle of defence.

Pique was included in Saturday’s squad list for the game at Spanish leader Madrid, but fellow defender Carles Puyol was not.

Barcelona says Puyol will miss the “clasico” match because of a right knee injury.

Barcelona trails Madrid by four points in the table going into the crucial matchup between the rivals.

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