Barcelona says its defender Eric Abidal has been diagnosed with a liver tumour and will undergo surgery on Friday.

The Spanish club made the announcement late yesterday and gave no indication on how long the France international will be sidelined.

The 31-year-old Abidal joined Barcelona at the beginning of the 2007-2008 season.

He has been a key figure for Barcelona this season, playing 33 games and filling in recently at center back for the injured Carles Puyol.

Grondona says he wants Tevez in Argentina team

Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentine Football Association, says he wants to see Carlos Tevez back in Argentina's national team and played down problems between his staff and the Manchester City striker.

Tevez and fellow striker Sergio Aguero of Atletico Madrid have been left out of a squad named by coach Sergio Batista for friendly matches later this month against the United States and Costa Rica.

Grondona suggested Tevez was not being punished for skipping a friendly in November against Brazil. He was also left out of a squad for last month's 2-1 victory over Portugal.

"Tevez plays a position (striker) where there are lots of players competing and the coach is looking at everybody to decide," Grondona said in an interview on Radio Del Plata.

"The previous conflict about not calling him up is over," he added.