Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has confirmed that key attacker Raphinha was absent from the club’s squad to face Barbastro owing to a fitness concern.

The Blaugrana marked their return to action a short time ago, making the trip to minnows Barbastro for a Copa del Rey Last-32 clash.

When all was said and done, Flick’s troops emerged comfortable victors, by four goals to nil.

The aforementioned Raphinha, however, played no part.

The Brazilian international was a surprise last-minute omission from Barcelona’s matchday setup on Saturday, with ensuing reports having pointed towards as much as having come in a bid to afford Raphinha a rest.

As alluded to above, however, post-match, Hansi Flick went on to confirm that this was not the case.

Instead, Barca’s wing wizard was forced to sit out owing to a minor fitness issue suffered in training:

“Raphinha had some problems today. He trained but in the end we decided not to call him for the match.”

Conor Laird – GSFN