Friendly internationals for ten from FC Barcelona
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Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Germany U21 all have games this Tuesday
The second round of international matches features as many as ten Barça players (Neymar, Messi, Mascherano, Piqué, Sergio, Pedro, Bartra, Jordi Alba, Bravo and Ter Stegen) in action in friendlies on Tuesday night. However, Luis Suárez will not be playing for Uruguay against Claudio Bravo's’ Chile as he was given special permission to return to Barcelona.
Austria v Brazil
Neymar is in Vienna for Brazil’s game with Austria at 7.00 PM CET. The striker has taken his exceptional goalscoring form at Barça to international level, and found the net twice in the recent friendly with Turkey. He and his Brazilian team-mates will now be tested by an Austrian side that after beating Russia 1-0 are top of their Euro 2016 qualifying group.
Portugal v Argentina
Old Trafford is the venue for what promises to be a cracking match that sees Cristiano Ronaldo appearing at his former home against an Argentinian side that features his predecessor as Balon d’Or winner, Leo Messi, and another Barça man in Javier Mascherano. Argentina go into the game after beating Rakitic and Croatia a few days ago, with Messi getting one of the goals. Speaking to the press before the match, Mascherano shunned suggestions that Messi and other Argentine players don’t show enough commitment to the national team, saying that “there is nothing more painful for us than losing the World Cup Final”. 8.00 PM (CET)
Spain v Germany
Balaídos, home of Celta Vigo, is the venue for another top class game on Tuesday night, a repeat of the 2010 World Cup semi-final between Spain and Germany. Del Bosque has named Piqué, Sergio, Pedro, Bartra and Jordi Alba in his squad, all of which bar Bartra appeared in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Belarus in a Euro 2016 qualifier. Sergio and Pedro got the second and third goals in that match. Germany beat Gibraltar 4-0 in their qualifier, but that was a considerably narrower margin of victory than most people had expected in a game between the current world champions and the debutant minnows. 8.45 PM (CET)
Chile v Uruguay
There will be no confrontation between Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo and Luis Suárez as the Uruguayan Federation decided to allow their star striker to return to Barcelona after scoring in a 3-3 draw with Costa Rica. Chile captain Bravo will therefore be the only Barça representative in this duel between two of South America’s finest sides. The game kicks off in Santiago at 1.00 AM CET.
Czech Republic v Germany (U21)
Several U21 teams are also playing friendly matches now that qualification for the European Championships has concluded. Germany play the Czech Republic with Barça’s Marc-André ter Stegen in goal, kicking off at 5.30 PM CET.