Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has revealed that Pedri will return to the squad for Saturday's La Liga clash with Alaves at Camp Nou.
The Spain international has missed Barcelona's last five matches in all competitions due to a hamstring problem, but he is now ready to return for the Catalan outfit, with the midfielder in line to play some minutes in the second half of the clash with Alaves.
Barcelona have suffered a blow ahead of the La Liga fixture, though, with Ronald Araujo set to be absent through illness.
Gavi (knee) and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (back) are also still missing, while Fermin Lopez has suffered a calf injury which will sideline him for the next couple of weeks.
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Barcelona vs. Alaves: Pedri returns but Araujo misses out
“He has a stomach virus. He’s out of training today and will also miss tomorrow’s match," Flick told reporters when asked about Araujo, who was sent off in the team's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday night.
"We’re all feeling down. The defeat against Chelsea was tough. We thought we could win. We have to be optimistic about the next match.”
When asked about Pedri, Flick said: “He’ll definitely get some minutes against Alaves, but not from the start. We’ll see. He may also play those minutes in the first half.”
Barcelona were well beaten by Chelsea in the Champions League
Flick also opened up on his side's 3-0 loss to Chelsea, with the result leaving the Catalan giants down in 18th spot in the overall Champions League table.
“When we lose and concede three goals, it’s easy to say that it wasn’t a good match or that it wasn’t the Barca we’d like to see. At the end of the day, there are people who don’t know what we need to play with that high line," said the manager.
“It’s our own style, it’s not just about the defenders, the forwards and midfielders start the pressing. That’s what I need from the players. The blame seems to fall on the defence, but that’s not fair. If we don’t all press well, we’ll have problems, I want to make that clear.
“I said I was optimistic because we did some things well, but we need to improve up front when we start pressing. I want to see what I see in training, and I like what I see. The players are very focused and have a lot of quality.
“Pedri, Raphinha and Marcus [Rashford] will bring us more. I have to tell the players what I see. I’m just focused on the next game. We have just over three weeks left before the break. There are a lot of games to play. All my energy is focused on that.
"In today’s training session, I saw good dynamics and more intensity, which is what we lacked in the match against Chelsea.”
Barcelona are currently second in the La Liga table, one point behind the leaders Real Madrid, who are not in action until Sunday night against Girona.