The good news today is that Thierry Henry is improving rapidly and may finally be fit in time for El Clasico on Sunday. Henry began this morning’s training session doing his own special preparation, but he joined in with his teammates at the end of the session for a mini-match of half an hour. Henry could receive medicval clearance in the next day or two, in which case he could start Sunday’s game as a substitute and be used for 20/25 minutes in the second half.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid have left out nine first team regulars for tonight’s Copa del Rey game in Alicante. Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Diarra, Baptista, Sneijder, Raul, Van Nistlerooy and Robinho have all been rested with Sunday’s game in mind. The players included for the trip who might play a part in Camp Nou are Guti, Marcelo, Heinze, Pepe, Gago and Robben. Fcbnews sportingly hopes they all get injured.