Great night for FC Barcelona internationals as Spain, Croatia and Turkey all win

All of Barça's players that were involved in Saturday's World Cup qualifying matches are smiling tonight after each of their natioanl teams collected three points on home soil.

Spain still tied with Italy in Group G

Spain continued to make good headway in the quest for a place at Russia 2018 with a 4-0 win against Macedonia at the Nuevo Los Cármenes in Granada. It means Julen Lopetegui’s side stay locked at the top of their qualifying group with Italy, who won by the same score on their trip to Liechtenstein.

Sergio Busquets played all 90 minutes of the game against a side that remains bottom of the group without a point. A Velkovski own goal got things going in the first half, and after the break Vitolo, Monreal and Aduriz added to the lead.

Double Barça joy in Group I

There was also good news for both the Barça representatives in Group I as both Croatia and Turkey racked up three points from 2-0 wins.

Ivan Rakitic played the first 85 minutes as the Croats beat former co-leaders Iceland to move up to ten points from four games. Playing in front of an empty stadium in Zagreb following a crowd ban imposed on the home side by FIFA, Marcelo Brozovic of Inter Milan delivered two superb goals to beat the Euro 2014 quarter finalists.

And Turkey finally got their first win of the qualifying campaign with a victory over Kosovo. Barça’s Arda Turan was employed in the left of the attack, where he has so often impressed this season at club level. Two goals in four minutes from Burak Yilmaz and Volkan Sen did the business in Antalya, but the result still leaves the Turks five points adrift of the top of table.