International week: Barça players 1x1

Another international week is over in which ten Barça players were involved in different games for their countries. Let’s check up and how they all fared:

Spain

Sergio Busquets (115 mins) / Jordi Alba (90) / Gavi (154)

Two 1.0 wins, one in Greece and the other at home to Sweden ensured a 12^th consecutive World Cup appearance for Spain.

Gavi played the first 65 minutes of the game in Athens before being substituted by Barça team-mate Busquets, and also 89 minutes of the second game and was mightily impressive in both – to the extent that the Seville crowd chanted his name and gave him a standing ovation when he came off.

After Busquets and Jordi Alba started on the bench in Greece (the latter didn’t get on), they both played the full ninety of the game with Sweden.

Germany

Ter Stegen (90 mins)

Two meaningless games for Germany, who had already won their place in Qatar. Manuel Neuer got the nod for the 9-0 thumping of Liechtenstein (9-0), but the Barça stopped was used for the whole of the 4-1 win in Armenia, the only goal he conceded coming from the penalty spot.

Austria U21

Demir (82 mins)

Austria, with no chance of finishing second in their World Cup qualifying group, decided to instead send Yusuf Demir to play for the U21 side, where his services were more necessary in a European qualifier in Croatia. He played 82 minutes of a 3-1 defeat that leaves the Austrians third in the group.

Holland

Frenkie de Jong (168 mins) / Memphis (180)

Holland surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 in Montenegro, meaning qualification came down to a head-to-head with Norway, which they won 2-0 to ensure a place in the finals.

Memphis again played a key role for the team, scoring both goals in the first game and also the second against Norway. He played the full 90 of both fixtures, while De Jong only sat out the last few minutes of the game in Montenegro.

France

Lenglet (10 mins)

France saw off Kazakhstan 8-0 to secure a place in the finals and then rounded off the group with a 2-0 win over Finland. The Barça full-back only featured in the final ten minutes of the first game.

Uruguay

Araujo (0)

Araujo was not used in either game, a 1-0 defeat at home to Argentina and a 3-0 loss in Bolivia that have left his side in trouble. But with just four points separating 4^th and 9^th, anything could still happen in the Conmebol zone.

Brazil

Coutinho (0)

Brazil beat Colombia 1-0 to ensure they maintain their record of being the only team never to have missed the World Cup, and then drew 0-0 with the also qualified Argentina. The Barça star was an unused substitute in both encounters.