Abidal on track for December return

Barcelona and France left-back Eric Abidal, who is recovering from liver transplant surgery in April, is on track to return to action in December, the doctor who carried out the operation says. Last month the 32-year-old said he had started working in the gym and had set his sights on a return to action in December. "There is no objective reason for him not to return. If he says he will be back in December, the road is clear," doctor Juan Carlos Garcia-Valdecasa said during an interview published Friday in Barcelona-based sports daily Sport. "The way things are going now, he is going to have few medical problems. We can't predict the future but it is going very well," he added. Earlier this week Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova included Abidal in his 25-man UEFA Champions League squad even though the player is still recovering from his liver transplant. Abidal underwent the operation on April 10, just over a year after having a tumour removed from his liver in March 2011. He was given the green light to leave hospital in Barcelona in May. FIFA