FC Barcelona international agenda
Another international break is upon us, and there will be no FC Barcelona games for the next fortnight. Mainly due to injuries to key players, there are fewer members of Hansi Flick's squad away than one would normally expect, seven this time round, and here we take a look at what each of those players will be up to.
Spain: Pedri, Olmo and Casadó
Denmark v Spain (UEFA Nations League Group 4)
Friday 15 at 8.45pm CET in Copenhagen
Spain v Switzerland (UEFA Nations League Group 4)
Monday 18 at 8.45pm CET in Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Spain are already through to the quarter finals of this competition, so the pressure is off for these two remaining fixtures. Pedri and Dani Olmo are being joined by Marc Casadó, who is enjoying his first ever call-up for full international duty, but Lamine Yamal misses out with an ankle injury that sees him sidelined for about three weeks. Pedri will be particularly excited about the Switzerland tie, in which he gets to return to his native Canary Islands.
Spain U21: Pablo Torre
Spain v England (Friendly)
Friday 15 at 6.30pm CET in Cadiz
Spain v Denmark (Friendly)
Tuesday 19 at 7.00pm CET in Albacete
Spain have successfully completed their qualification schedule for the U21 European Championship in Slovakia next year, and will be using this week to test themselves in friendlies against two of the other qualifying group winners, England and Denmark. Pablo Torre is Barça's sole representative in the squad.
Spain U19: Three from Barça Atlètic
Spain v Faroe Islands (Euro I19 Qualification)
Wednesday 13 at 12.00pm CET in Podujevë
Kosovo v Spain (Euro I19 Qualification)
Saturday 16 at 3.00pm CET in Pristina
Spain v Austria (Euro I19 Qualification)
Tuesday 19 at 12.00pm CET in Podujevë
Barça's reserve teams has three players (Pau Prim, Andrés Cuenca and Guille Fernández) who are all in the Spanish U19 squad that will be playing for a place in the European Championships next year, to be hosted by Romania. Qualification involves four teams (Spain, Austria, Kosovo and the Faroe Islands) playing a round robin competition, with all games played in a single week in Kosovo. The top two teams plus a possible best-third will advance to the Elite Round, where games will again all be played in a single country.
Brazil: Raphinha
Venezuela v Brazil (World Cup Qualification)
Thursday 14 at 5pm local (10pm CET) in Maturín
Brazil v Uruguay (World Cup Qualification)
Tuesday 14 at 9.45pm local (1.45am Wednesday 10pm CET) in Salvador
Raphinha will be hoping to transfer his brilliant season at Barça to the international stage as Brazil play two more of their World Cup qualifiers, this time against Venezuela and Uruguay (the latter without the injured Ronald Araujo). Despite a mixed bag of results so far, Brazil are currently fourth in the ten-team table and in little danger of failing to make the finals.
Netherlands: De Jong
Netherlands v Hungary (UEFA Nations League Group 3)
Saturday 16 at 8.45pm CET in Amsterdam
Bosnia/Herzegovina v Netherlands (UEFA Nations League Group 3)
Tuesday 18 at 8.45pm CET in Zenica
Back from an ankle injury, Frenkie de Jong finally gets to pull on the famous orange jersey once again as his country faces its final two games its the Nations League group. The date with Hungary is a particularly crunch one. With Germany already assured one of the two quarter finals berths on offer, Holland are matched with their guests on 5 points each, and so this game will practically decide which one gets to advance.
France: Kounde
France v Israel (UEFA Nations League Group 2)
Thursday 14 at 8.45pm CET in Paris
Italy v France (UEFA Nations League Group 2)
Sunday 17 at 8.45pm CET in Milan
Jules Kounde has been enjoying some fine form for his club and now gets to help his side as they try to cross the line and ensure a quarter final berth in this competition. A win over Israel would make mathematically sure of that no matter what happens in the closing game, a tricky visit to the San Siro.
USA: Diego Kochen
Jamaica v United States (Concacaf Nations League Quarter Final)
Thursday 14 at 8pm local (2am Friday CET) in Kingston
United States v Jamaica (Concacaf Nations League Quarter Final)
Monday 18 at 8pm local (2am Tuesday CET) in St Louis
The Barça Atlétic goalkeeper is once again included in the USMNT squad, although he has yet to actually make his debut. Maybe these back-to-back games against Jamaica will bring the opportunity he's been waiting for.