Iniesta may miss Barcelona's U.S. tour with virus

American fans who were hoping to catch the magic of Andres Iniesta could be left disappointed after the midfielder returned to preseason training with Barcelona with an ailment.

Spanish daily AS reports the 25-year-old picked up an intestinal virus during his holidays, which was confirmed when he underwent his preseason medicals at the club yesterday.

Ricard Pruna, the chief team doctor, said, "He is in the process of regaining his strength, but he has been weakened a little bit."

Iniesta was forced to work out on his own Monday afternoon, but he is expected to gradually rejoin the rest of the group. And depending on his progress in recovering from the sickness and from his muscle injury, he could be sidelined for the Blaugrana's tour of the U.S. in early August.

"El Tricampeon" will visit the L.A. Galaxy on Sunday, Aug. 2 and Seattle Sounders FC on Aug. 6, two matches in which Iniesta is unlikely to be involved. There is a chance, however, that he could be given a run-out against Chivas de Guadalajara in San Francisco on Aug. 8, but his full return could be postponed until the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa against Athletic Bilbao a week later.

Iniesta's fellow Spanish internationals, Xavi, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Brazil's Dani Alves, did not encounter any such problems upon their holidays.