体坛英语新闻：Good for Barca as Vilanova to return this week

MADRID, March 25 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova will return to Barcelona this week after more than two months in New York undergoing cancer treatment, which was confirmed Monday.

Vilanova travelled to New York on January 21 after it had been confirmed at the end of last year he has suffered a relapse in the cancer of the parotid gland which had originally been diagnosed in November 2011.

During the time he has been away, his assistant, Jordi Roura has been in charge of first team affairs at Barcelona, although Roura has been in continued contact with Vilanova.

However, it now looks likely that Vilanova could be able to sit on the dugout for Barca's trip to play away to struggling Celta Vigo on Saturday night or the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint Germain the following Tuesday.

Vilanova's return will be a massive morale boost for Barcelona, who suffered a dip in form at the end of February and the start of this months, losing to Real Madrid in both the Copa del Rey and the La Liga, before recovering to overcome a 2-0 first leg defeat to AC Milan with a 4-0 win in the return leg.

Although the club has worked hard to back Roura who was handed a difficult task and one he would surely never have asked for, it is true that Vilanova's absence has been lost, something that has been confirmed by declarations by striker, Leo Messi, while club President Sandro Rosell commented that it was psychologically proven that teams react badly around 30 days of losing their leader.

However, at the same time Barcelona has kept faith in Vilanova with director of sport, Andoni Zubizarreta insisting he would be in charge of the Barca first team for the 2013-2014 season and Zubizarreta has made trips to New York to plan for the future with Vilanova, while the coach was undergoing treatment.

The club has also prepared a video to pay homage to Vilanova on his return to the club which captures Vilanova's pre-season speech to the squad in which he says: "your fight is our strength," and shows images of the side's early season's triumphs which have helped them take a 13 point lead in the La Liga table.