Ronaldinho out for Saturday

Ronaldinho has not been named in Frank Rijkaard’s squad for Saturday’s game at Villarreal.

The Brazilian has been replaced by Santi Ezquerro.Ronaldinho will not be joining the squad on its trip to Castellón. He took part in his country’s midweek success against Ecuador (0-5), and was not back in time to take part in the final preparatory session before the journey south.

Frank Rijkaard decided it would be wise to leave him out of the team this weekend. Ezquerro returns That means there is a place for Santi Ezquerro, who was dropped for the last league match against Atlético Madrid (3-0). In fact, this is his first call-up since September 26, when he was named in the squad that faced Zaragoza at the Camp Nou.

Giovani eased back in As is normal on days before matches, the players trained behind closed doors at the Camp Nou. Giovani dos Santos was involved after seeing his Mexican national side lose this week to Guatemala.

He returned to Barcelona this morning and recuperated from his exertions in isolation.
The squad
The 18 players named by Frank Rijkaard for Saturday’s game are as follows: Valdés, Jorquera, Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, Milito, Abidal, Oleguer, Deco, Messi, Puyol, Thuram, Gudjohnsen, Sylvinho, Ezquerro, Bojan, Giovani and Marc Crosas.