As club football is just edging closer to it’s return, some key Barcelona players have been called up by their national teams and have provided key performances. Some are free from the duty and some are still left to play. Here is a summary of players:
Spain
📌Lamine Yamal: Played for a total of 188 minutes. Lamine was key in Spain’s UEFA Nations League quarter-final victory over the Netherlands. He scored a beautiful goal in extra time. Dean Huijsen, allowed Lamine to be in a 1v1 situation. The 17-year-old cut inside with a chop and finished it beautifully past Bart Verbruggen. Unfortunately missed the penalty in the shoot-out.
📌Pedri: Played for a total of 102 minutes. He was instrumental for Spain’s midfield, contributing control and creativity against Netherlands over 2 legs. He scored the winning penalty in the shootout.
📌Dani Olmo: Participated for 108 minutes in Spain’s attacking plays. He contributed with his creativity and was key in the final third of attack against Netherlands.
📌Ferran Torres: Did not get much playing time, captained Spain in the second-leg after coming on as a substitute and scored a crucial penalty in the shoot-out.
📌Pau Cubarsí: Played a few minutes in the first leg against Netherlands. He was withdrawn from the squad due to ankle injury.
Netherlands
📌Frenkie de Jong: Played a total of 180 minutes, in their UEFA Nations League matches against Spain. Unfortunately got knocked out by Spain in the penalty shoot-out.
France
📌Jules Koundé: Was on the pitch for a total of 210 minutes in France’s UEFA Nations League quarter-final matches against Croatia. Unfortunately skied a penalty in the shoot-out.
Poland
📌Robert Lewandowski: Played in Poland’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Albania, for 86 minutes scoring the winning goal. Still left to play against Malta.
Brazil
📌Raphinha: Featured in Brazil’s World Cup qualifying match. Scored and assisted against Colombia. Still left to play against Argentina.
Uruguay
📌Ronald Araújo: Played against Argentina in Brazil’s World Cup qualifying match. Unfortunately lost the game 1-0. Still to play against Bolivia.
Spain U-21 National Team
📌Fermín López, Gerard Martín, and Pablo Torre: Played in a friendly against the Czech Republic. They will be back to Barcelona’s training camp soon.
In my opinion, Barcelona players going into for international duty is quite important for their personal accolades. The Nations League is another format, recently introduced in National Teams which many players take way too seriously. The players and their International managers should understand that it’s another friendly game and their main starts could rest. They should highly acknowledge the fact that the number of games players have to play for club is already really high, so they deserve proper management in terms of rest and recovery. An example of Gavi should be seen, the youngster was in great form with club and country. He got injured playing a friendly game for Spain, which kept the youngster out for seven to eight months.