FCBARCELONA.CAT

01.09.2008 16:29

Internationals on their travels

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Most of the Barça first team players have left today to join up with their national squads and Guardiola will only be able to work with Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Víctor Sánchez, Sylvinho and Eto'o.

The international fixtures to be played from 5 to 10 September have stripped the club of players. Apart from the injured Milito and Jorquera, 15 out of Barça’s 21 players have been called up for international duty.

Bojan with the usual three

Xavi Hernàndez, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta and Bojan Krkic will be taking part on 6 and 10 September in two 2010 World Cup qualifying games. Bojan was called up to the Spanish squad after Fernando Torres was injured at the weekend.

The four players headed off to Madrid today and will return on 11 September. On Saturday the 6th Spain take on Bosnia in Murcia, to be followed on the 10th with the game against Armenia in Albacete.

Abidal and Henry with France

After being left out of France’s most recent game, a friendly against Sweden, Éric Abidal has once again been called up for the games with Austria and Serbia. However, Barça’s right-back will have to sit out the encounter in Austria on the 6th after having been sent off in the last game of Euro 2008.

The other Barça player selected by French coach Raymond Domenech is Thierry Henry.

Air miles

Rafa Márquez, Martín Cáceres and Leo Messi are to clock up the most mileage. Mexico are taking on Jamaica and Canada, Uruguay will be crossing swords with Colombia and Ecuador, while Argentina have games with Paraguay and Peru. All three players went directly from Soria to Madrid to catch their flights to South America, and are set to return on the 12th.

Alexander Hleb and Eidur Gudjohnsen also have two games over the next few days. Belarus are taking on Ukraine and Andorra, while Iceland are tackling Norway and Scotland. Hleb and Gudjohnsen will be back in Barcelona on 11th September.

Less time in Africa

Finally the two African players called up for their national sides only have one match to deal with. Ivory Coast and Touré Yaya are playing in Mozambique while Seydou Keita’s Mali are in the Congo. Keita leaves today while Touré is off on Wednesday. Both are expecting to return before the other internationals on Tuesday 9 September.