1x1 of FC Barcelona's international week

The FIFA break is over and now it's time to start thinking about the game with Betis this Saturday at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. First though, let's check back on how the international week treated our players.

Germany good and bad

As they're hosting Euro 2024, Germany don't have to qualify and are playing friendlies instead. But the 4-1 home defeat to Japan cost manager Hansi Flick his job before the team made amends for that loss by beating France 2-1.  

Ter Stegen played both games in goal, while Gündogan also featured against Japan but left the field with a fitness issue after 20 minutes of the encounter with the French.

Win and loss for France

Jules Koundé helped France to beat Ireland and maintain their 100% record in their qualifying group. They followed that up with the aforesaid friendly with Germany, in which the Barça defender came on for the last half hour or so. 

Denmark charging

Christensen's Denmark side have got their qualifying campaign right back on track with a couple of away wins, 4-0 in San Marino and 1-0 in Finland. But the group is tight, with just one point splitting the top four sides. 

Lewandowski scores two but Poland in trouble

Things started well enough, with Robert Lewandowski scoring both the goals in a 2-0 defeat of the Faroe islands. But the Poles followed that with a 2-0 loss in Albania, a result that means they are now fourth in the group. There's plenty of football still to be played though and Poland still have every chance of making it to the finals.

13 goals in two games for Spain

Spain are in fine song, winning 7-1 in Georgia and then crushing Cyprus 6-0.

Lamine Yamal made history by not only becoming the youngest person ever to play for Spain, but by also becoming the youngest person ever to score for the team! 

Alejandro Balde only featured as a second half substitute against Cyprus, while Gavi started both games, and scored the opener against the Cypriots. 

Ferran Torres was called up for the second game as cover for injuries and coach Luís de la Fuente sent him on for the last half hour. And Torres certainly made the most of the chance, scoring not once but twice. 

Double Dutch

Frenkie de Jong and the Netherlands had a good week. He was a key feature in back-to-back wins, first 3-0 over Greece and then coming from behind to see off Ireland 2-1. 

Portugal on a roll

João Félix and João Cancelo are part of the Portugal team that has yet to drop any points in the qualifying campaign. They edged it in Slovakia 1-0 and then put a huge dent in Luxembourg's good run by totally routing them 9-0, with substitute João Félix claiming the ninth and final goal.

Cancelo started against the Slovaks and came on as a sub against Luxembourg.

Raphinha scores

Brazil Raphinha have got their World Cup qualifying programme off to the way they would have hoped with two wins. The Barça star scored one of the goals in a 5-1 crushing of Bolivia and also played in Peru, where a last minute goal snatched the points from a 1-0 win. 

Jaume Cuéllar with Bolivia

Barça Atlètic's Jaume Cuellar also featured in the Conmebol qualifiers, playing for Bolivia as a second-half substitute in the 5-1 loss to Brazil. The youngster remained on the bench as his team lost again later in the week, this time 3-0 at home to Argentina.