International watch: 14 Barcelona stars called up for national team duty

Barcelona returned to winning ways this past Sunday as they defeated Deportivo Alaves 2-1 at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.

The victory meant that the Blaugrana head into the international break in third place in the La Liga table, with 30 points from 13 games – four shy of leaders Girona and two below arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Given their recent performances and results, the international break arrives at a good time for Barça to reset and get back into a good frame of mind before resuming their campaign against Rayo Vallecano in two weeks.

14 players called up for national team duty

As far as the international break is concerned, Barcelona will see almost their entire first-team squad go away to represent their respective national teams over the next couple of weeks.

Indeed, as many as 14 Barça players have been called up for national team duty in what will be the final international break in 2023.

Kicking things off, Spain have as many as four Barcelona players in the squad in the form of Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, and veteran defender Inigo Martinez.

La Roja will be playing Cyprus on Thursday (November 16) before taking on Georgia on Sunday, both in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Fermin Lopez will be playing for Spain Under-21 against Hungary and Belgium in the U-21 Euro qualifiers.

Barcelona’s second captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen and veteran midfielder Ilkay Gundogan are part of the Germany setup that is scheduled to face Turkey (Saturday) and Austria (next Tuesday) in friendly encounters.

On-loan duo Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix are included in the Portugal squad list by manager Roberto Martinez for their Euro qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Iceland.

Jules Kounde, Robert Lewandowski, who was Barça’s saviour against Alaves, and Andreas Christensen will be away with France, Poland, and Denmark, respectively.

Meanwhile, Raphinha will be flying to South America to play for Brazil in their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina.

Ronald Araujo will also be involved in the World Cup qualifiers with Uruguay, who play Argentina and Bolivia.

Who will be staying back?

The Spanish contingent of Pedri, Alejandro Balde, Oriol Romeu, Marcos Alonso, and Inaki Pena will continue to train at Barcelona under Xavi during the international break.

Meanwhile, Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong will also be at the club, as they continue their recovery from injury.