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Foot injury forces Valdés out of Betis clash | FC Barcelona
Víctor Valdés will not be able to take part in the match against Real Betis this Sunday due to an inflammation in his left foot. The Barça keeper, who missed the game between Catalonia and Nigeria in January because of the same problem, was unable to train alongside his teammates on Saturday morning and exercised separately.
Real Betis defender Alex Martínez, who will be in the starting XI again following Nacho’s suspension, said that he will try to ‘give it my all at an imposing stadium’. He also said he expects Barcelona to be "out of sorts after being knocked out of Europe, though motivated because if they win, the League is theirs.’
Tito Vilanova spoke to reporters in the Camp Nou on Saturday ahead of the match against Betis. "It is a very important match because we know that a win would leave us in a good position to win the league. "The sooner we get three points, the better. We want to give the fans a boost. Why wait until the last match if we can win the league before then?"
Xherdan Shaqiri has stressed that Bayern Munich will not rest on their laurels if they were to win the treble this term as they aim to become as dominant as Barcelona have been in the past few seasons. "I believe that everybody at Bayern wants to win a lot of trophies," Shaqiri was quoted as saying by Bild. "Nobody will sit back and relax if we were to win the treble. I dream of becoming as dominant as Barcelona have been over the years - that should be Bayern's goal."
The Barça squad trained at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Saturday morning. Leo Messi and Sergio Busquets, who had been training at a reduced rate in recent days, took a full part in today’s session. Meanwhile, Abidal also exercised at 100%. The senior players were joined by Oier and Deulofeu.
Celta Vigo kept their bid to avoid relegation just about alive when a late Iago Aspas goal rescued a 1-1 draw at home to a wasteful Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Friday. Bilbao midfielder Oscar de Marcos fired the Basques ahead in the 43rd minute at Celta's Balaidos stadium when he crowned a sweeping move with a handsome finish past goalkeeper Javi Varas.
Zico believes the 31-year-old must leave the Bernabeu now if he is to resurrect his international career, despite having two years left on his contract. "Kaka is determined to prove he can be more useful at Real Madrid despite all his difficulties there," Zico told Esporte Interativo. "I talked with him about it and he smiled. It would be ideal for him and for the national team if he played in Brazil. I'm not saying this as a Flamengo fan, I'm saying what I think is best for Kaka."
