Barcelona have been buoyed by the news that captain Carles Puyol has recovered from a leg strain and should play against arch rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first-leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night (Both sides 17/10, the draw 9/4 – match betting).

Puyol suffered the injury in the La Liga clash between these two 10 days ago, which forced him to miss the Copa del Rey final and last weekend’s 2-0 win over Osasuna – a result that maintained the Catalans’ eight-point lead in the standings.

Gabriel Milito is also fit again but full-back Maxwell is sidelined with a groin strain and Barca coach Pep Guardiola believes that Real hold the advantage going into the first-leg.

“We are not going [to Madrid] in the best condition but in mental terms we will travel to the Bernabeu with a lot of enthusiasm,” Guardiola said.

“We accept that Madrid are favourites, they have earned that in the last few weeks, and we’ll try to turn that around.”

Real head into the contest in good heart following the Copa del Rey success (their first for 18 years) a week ago over Barca in the final, before thrashing third-placed Valencia 6-3 at the Mestalla in La Liga on Saturday.

However, the nine-time winners (10/3 in the outright betting) will be without Ricardo Carvalho for the first leg as he is suspended while injured midfielder Sami Khedira is set to be replaced by Lassana Diarra.