Madrid - Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola has surprisingly included Dani Alves in his squad for Wednesday's Champions League clash away to Rubin Kazan.

Alves tore a muscle in the back of his right thigh in the shock 2-1 home defeat against Rubin two weeks ago, and was expected to be out of action for at least three weeks.

The return to action of Alves is important for Barca because it will permit veteran captain Carles Puyol to revert to his usual centre-back position, instead of having to cover for Alves at right- back.

Gabriel Milito is still injured, and Dmytro Chygrynskiy cannot play in the Champions League this season because he turned out for Shakhtar Donetesk in the preliminary rounds.

Barca are tied at the top of Group F with Rubin and Dynamo Kiev, all of them on four points. Italian champions Inter Milan have just three points. (dpa)