Internationals total 1,267 minutes

Internationals total 1,267 minutes

A review of what the different FC Barcelona players have done this week with their national teams

Thirteen Barça first team players appeared in official or friendly matches this week for their different countries. They played a combined total of 1.267 minutes and here we examine what they did one-by-one:

Javier Mascherano (Argentina) 90 minutes
Although he sat out the 2-0 defeat of El Salvador in Washington, Mascherano captained the side in the 2-1 win against Ecuador.

Leo Messi (Argentina) 0 minutes
The Barça striker travelled to the US with the Argentina, but didn’t play either match as a precautionary measure.

Gerard Piqué (Spain) 158 minutes
The centre back started both matches, playing 90 minutes of the 1-0 win against Ukraine in the Euro 2016 qualifier, and then 68 of the friendly with Holland in Amsterdam, with the Dutch won 2-0.

Marc Bartra (Spain) 0 minutes
Vicente del Bosque did not use him in either of the two matches this week.

Jordi Alba (Spain) 78 minutes
The full back picked up a hamstring injury against Ukraine and returned to his club immediately after.

Sergio Busquets (Spain) 90 minutes
The midfielder was used throughout the important qualifier, but was then rested for the friendly in Holland.

Andrés Iniesta (Spain) 88 minutes
Iniesta played the first 74 minutes of the game in Seville and came on for the last quarter of an hour at the Amsterdam Arena.

Pedro Rodríguez (Spain) 70 minutes
The opposite to Iniesta, Pedro came as a sub for the last 25 minutes at the Sánchez Pizjuán but started against Holland, being substituted at half-time.

Ivan Rakitic (Croatia) 75 minutes
The midfielder was one of the stars of his country’s crushing 5-1 defeat of Norway, which consolidates their position at the top of their European Championship qualifying group.

Claudio Bravo (Chile) 180 minutes
The keeper played both his team’s friendlies this week. The first was a shock 2-0 defeat to Iran in Austria and the other was a 1-0 loss to Brazil in London.

Neymar Jr (Brazil) 180 minutes
The star of the ‘canarinha’ scored one of the goals in Brazil’s impressive 3-1 win over France in Saint-Denis and also featured throughout the tough encounter with Chile.

Marc-André Ter Stegen (Germany U21) 90 minutes
The goalkeeper was used for the full game against England in Middlesbrough, which the home side won 3-2 thanks to two late goals.

Rafinha Alcántara (Brazil U23) 168 minutes
The midfielder played a key role in two practice games for the side that will be playing as hosts at the next Olympic Games. They beat Paraguay 4-1 and drew 0-0 with Olympic champions Mexico.

Força Barça
Força Barça

Related to this article

Close article

Related to this article