The round of International matches has caused no problems for the Barcelona players.
The internationals from Barça will come back to training in perfect condition after the round of
international matches. Messi, Mascherano, Sergio, and Abidal are the only ones who played every
minute.
Safe and sound. The 15 international players will join in training this Wednesday in perfect
condition, and Guardiola will have them all available for the game against Real Sociedad on
Saturday.
Besides the fitness of the players, between them they were rested in terms of minutes played.
Only 4 international played the full 180 minutes.
Messi, Mascherano, Sergio and Abidal played every minute
Messi and Mascherano played two full games for Argentina, against Venezuela and
Nigeria. They’re certain to be the players who have suffered more wear and tear, because to
the minutes played one can add the long journeys, seeing as the matches were played in Calcutta and
Bangladesh.
Busquets is the only Spanish international player who played two full matches, against Chile
and Liechtenstein. Eric Abidal is the fourth international player to have played every minute
possible, with the French national side, in the two games against Albania and Romania.
Just behind these 4 comes Alexis Sanchez. The "Wonder Kid" played 150 minutes. He played the
entire match against Spain, and 50 minutes against Mexico in the friendly held at Espanyol’s
ground.
Del Bosque dosified Barça’s international players
As for the rest of the Spanish internationals, Villa and Iniesta played the whole
game against Liechtenstein, and one half of the friendly against Chile.
Xavi Hernandez played a total of 108 minutes. He didn’t play the whole of either game,
but he’ll especially remember the second match, against Liechtenstein, where he passed
Raul’s international record, now having played in 103 matches, and also celebrated with a
great goal from a free kick.
Alves, Keita, Cesc, and Thiago
As for the rest of the internationals, only Alves in the Brazil-Ghana match, and
Keita in Mali’s friendly against Cape Verde, played 90 minutes. Cesc Fabregas played 72
minutes spread over the two games against Chile and Liechtenstein, and had enough time to score the
two goals that turned the game against Alexis Sanchez’s side. In that game, Pedro played his
only 45 minutes, and Thiago made his official international debut on Tuesday, playing 36 minutes.
Valdes and Montoya are the players coming back most rested, as they were the only international
players who didn’t play a single minute with their national team.