Deco was taking part with the first team squad before being pulled aside by Barca's medical chiefs, who had been pre-occupied with working on Thierry Henry.

The two men in charge of Deco's recovery, Ricardo Pruna and Juanjo Brau, weren't available to monitor him yesterday and the midfielder was visibly upset at the lack of attention he was receiving.

Barca assistant coach Johan Neeskens invited Deco to join the first team drills, but the midfielder turned him down and stormed off to the dressing room with Pruna.

Deco believes he is fully recovered from his leg injury, but Barca medical chiefs do not agree and want him to delay his return to full-scale training.