The international break has often provided FC Barcelona with a lot of heartbreaks in the past. Untimely injuries that occur on the international stage have left the Catalan club paying the consequences in the past. Even during this season, some Barcelona players were initially sidelined because of international games in the summer.
Ronald Araujo, on the other hand, still remains in recovery following the muscular injury he suffered during the Copa America he played with Uruguay. However, this time around, Barcelona have been more or less quite lucky in terms of injuries during the ongoing international break.
Most of the players are officially done with their respective matches and are now set to return to the club promptly. The likes of Dani Olmo, Pedri, Marc Casado, Pau Cubarsi, Frenkie de Jong, and Jules Kounde all managed to get done with their games without suffering any notable injuries.
The Dutchman, in particular, ended up returning early from the international camp as head coach Ronald Koeman has decided to give him an early leave in light of the next match for the Netherlands not exactly being an important one.
However, there is one regular starter for the team who still remains at risk and just needs to get through one more game. As highlighted by SPORT, Brazilian forward and Barcelona captain Raphinha is still yet to play one more international outing, and his safety remains a massive concern for the club.
Beyond just being a team captain, Raphinha has been one of the most important players for Hansi Flick’s team in terms of output as well this season. Scoring goals, providing assists, running tirelessly for the betterment of the team, the Brazilian star has done anything and everything that has been asked of him.
Now, however, he has one more challenge against Uruguay that he needs to get through. Once that match is wrapped up, Barcelona can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that all of their players managed to get through the international break unscathed this time around.
Pablo Torre is another player who still has a game left to play with the Under-21 Spain team against Denmark, but his return would not necessarily hold the same impact that Raphinha’s would. That is not because of his talent, but because of the fact that the Brazilian player is a regular starter whereas Torre holds more of a rotational role at the moment.