The Tottenham Hotspur players trained in Shanghai ahead of their match against Manchester United and it was a session with a difference.
The Spurs squad took to the pitch at the Yuanshen Stadium in the Chinese city in sunshine only for the second half of the training session to be hit by a thunderstorm with torrential rain, but in the hot temperatures the players and coaches carried on regardless.
The session began with the usual stretching exercises before moving on to drills, which included slalom running, holding a team-mate back with a harness, passing an aerobic ball before sprinting away, throwing a heavy medicine ball and other activities.
The squad was split into four groups and they all cycled through each drill before two of them played a small-sided match against each other.
There was good news on the injury front for Spurs and Mauricio Pochettino with Christian Eriksen back and training fully with the squad after sitting out of the Juventus match in Singapore on Sunday.
Oliver Skipp, who went off with a knock against the Italian side late on, was involved in full training and showing no signs of any injury problems.
The whole travelling squad trained apart from captain Hugo Lloris who flew back on Monday to the UK after suffering tonsillitis.
The only issue could be the rain which fell heavily for an hour. The Manchester United players were later able to train on the same pitch after it dried out, however there could be some concern if the expected thunderstorm hits at game time on Thursday.
Pochettino is hoping the rain does not ruin the spectacle for the Shanghai fans.
"Hopefully not. Hopefully the weather and the pitch will be great to play and share a great moment with our fans," he said.
"It’s crazy - in Singapore we say the storm is coming, it’s coming, but it never comes. Today it’s unbelievable. It rains very fast and very high. It was helpful for the players but that’s not changed our mind or how happy we are to be here."
