Barcelona duo Osman Dembele and Sergio Aguero have resumed training and they are speeding up their injury recovery.
Aguero has not played for his new club since arriving at Camp Nou in the summer after City's contract expired. He strained his hamstring during preseason in August and has been forced to watch from the sidelines ever since.
Dembele also did not attend the event. The striker underwent knee surgery in the summer after being injured while representing France at Euro 2020. That blow was a classic example of his Barcelona career and has been mediocre since his move from Borussia Dortmund to Dortmund in 2017.
However, both players resumed training on Monday, although many of the top players missed international matches.
Barca are preparing to return to La Liga in Sunday's match against Valencia. Although that time came too early for Aguero and Dembele, their return will be a major boost to under-fire coach Ronald Koeman.
His side experienced a stutter at the start of the season, winning just three of their opening seven La Liga games and also losing back-to-back 3-0 in the Champions League.
One of their problems was that LuukdeJong, who arrived before the deadline, had only scored once in his first six games. Philippe Coutinho and Memphis Depay also didn't get proper play, while Ansu Fati had only just returned to the game after a long suspension.
The summer departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann ahead of the start of the season have weakened Koeman's offense, while Martin Brethwaite's injury in September will only make things worse.
Barca hope Aguero – City's all-time top scorer – and Dembele will improve their fortunes in front of goal.