FC Barcelona International Diary

No fewer than 13 members of the FC Barcelona squad are away competing for their countries this week, and this is the place to check in on how they are getting on:

• Spain: Cubarsí, Pedri, Olmo, Lamine & Ferran Torres
• Spain U21: Pablo Torre, Fermín & Gerard Martín
• France: Kounde
• Netherlands: Frenkie de Jong
• Poland: Lewandowski
• Brazil: Raphinha
• Uruguay: Araujo

FRIDAY 21 MARCH

Spain U21 v Czechia U21 (Friendly)
7.30pm CET (Lorca)
Gerard Martin could make his debut in this friendly as the Spanish squad prepare for the European Championship in Slovakia this summer.

Poland v Lithuania (World Cup qualifier)
8.45pm CET (Warsaw)
The road to the World Cup begins for Robert Lewandowski with a game at home to the side currently ranked 142nd in the world.

Uruguay v Argentina (World Cup qualifier)
8.30pm local (12.30 am Saturday CET) in Montevideo
Big game for Ronald Araujo as his side look to close the gap on the current world champions and leaders in the Conmebol qualifying competition.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH

Netherlands 2-2 Spain (UEFA Nations League Quarter Finals First Leg)
It wasn't the best of performances from Spain but they managed to get away with a 2-2 draw in Rotterdam. Nico William's early opener was turned around by goals from Cody Gakpo and Tijani Reijnders, but after the home side suffered a red card, Mikel Merino snatched a late equaliser for Spain.
From a Barça perspective, the most worrying sight was Pau Cubarsí having to withdraw injured after 40 minutes. Lamine Yamal and Pedri both started for Spain too, and were also substituted later on, although in their cases for tactical reasons, with Dani Olmo taking over from Pedri.
Frenkie de Jong featured for the Dutch, and he too was taken off early. The sides will meet again in the second leg in Valencia on Sunday.

Croatia 2-0 France (UEFA Nations League Quarter Finals First Leg)
Not a great day for Jules Kounde's France. They have a job to do in Paris next Sunday after they were beaten 2-0 by Croatia in Split. The home side scored both goals in the first half, courtesy of Ivan Perisic and Ante Budimir, and things could have been even worse had Croatia not missed a penalty earlier on.

Brazil 2-1 Colombia (World Cup qualifier)
Raphinha excelled by first scoring a penalty and then setting up Vinicius Junior for Brazil's dramatic injury time winner to beat Colombia in Brasilia. The result moves Brazil up to second in the table, but there are teams below them who have games to play on Friday.