Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez has resumed light training and hopes to be fit for the Red Devils’ Champions League tie against Barcelona. The Chilean damaged knee ligaments during a 3-2 win against Southampton on March 2nd and United feared that he could miss the remainder of the season.
Scan results allayed those fears but Sanchez was still expected to miss up to two months, meaning he would return in early May. However, Sanchez has defied those timelines and was able to participate in light training alongside Matteo Darmian on Thursday.
Ball work was kept to a minimum but the 30-year-old spent over an hour with conditioning coaches on the training pitch and is clearly reaping the rewards of the hard work he’s put in during his recovery.
Sanchez is now confident that he will be fit to feature in United’s quarter-final Champions League clash against former side Barcelona.
United host the Catalans at Old Trafford on April 10th before travelling to the Camp Nou six days later.
While the first leg may come too soon for Sanchez, he’s likely to be fit to feature in the second leg in what would be a timely boost for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Solskjaer hopes to have Marcus Rashford, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Luke Shaw and Romelu Lukaku fit for Saturday’s clash against Watford after all five players pulled out of international duty last week.
Sanchez’s return would be a boost in what is set to be a testing and definitive period for United during the Premier League run-in but Solskjaer admitted a fortnight ago that he’s unsure if the winger will ever rediscover his form. Asked whether he was confident Sanchez will return to form, Solskjaer added: ‘I hope so. ‘You can never be 100 per cent sure but Alexis is such a determined lad, he loves football and is doing everything he can to get back and show his best side.’
