Barcelona internationals round-up: De Jong, Arthur, Rakitic latest

Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images

A look at how Barca stars are faring with their national teams

The international fixtures just keep on coming for Barcelona players with Frenkie de Jong, Arthur, Ivan Rakitic and Marc-Andre ter Stegen all involved on Sunday.

First up were Arthur and Brazil who were held to a 1-1 draw by Nigeria in Singapore, in a match which saw Neymar hobble off after 12 minutes with another injury.

Arthur started the match and played 80 minutes for Tite’s side before being replaced by Liverpool midfielder Fabinho.

Photo by Allsport Co./Getty Images

Brazil dominated the match, recording 70% possession, but went behind when Joe Aribo slotted home the opener on 35 minutes.

Casemiro equalised just after half-time to make it two 1-1 draws from two games for Brazil over the international break.

Next up were De Jong’s Netherlands team who beat Belarus 2-1 in Euro 2020 qualifying to take a step closer to qualification.

De Jong had another bright game in midfield for the Netherlands and played the whole 90 minutes for Ronald Koeman’s men

Frenkie de Jong vs Belarus

104 passes
93% pass accuracy
4 key passes
5 dribbles won
4/4 accurate long balls
1 tackle won
2 interceptions

Not the best game by Dutch national team, but Frenkie was brilliant as always. He & Wijnaldum were by far the best players on the pitch. pic.twitter.com/PH4TUEtWNa

— FootballTalentScout (@FTalentScout) October 13, 2019

Two Georginio Wijnaldum goals put the visitors in charge of the match. Stanislav Dragun pulled one back for Estonia but Holland held on for an important win.

Unsurprisingly, Marc-Andre ter Stegen was back on the bench for Germany for their qualifier against Estonia.

Manager Joachim Low had announced pre-match that Manuel Neuer would be back between the sticks for this one and was true to his word.

Photo by Jan Hetfleisch - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

Germany saw Emre Can sent off after just 14 minutes but went on to win 3-0 thanks to goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Timo Werner. Neuer kept a clean sheet but wasn’t really tested on Tallin.

Another Barcelona player on the bench on Sunday was Ivan Rakitic, something he’s probably pretty used to at the moment.

Manager Zlatko Dalic left him out of the starting XI for Croatia’s qualifier against Wales in Cardiff, but he did get on at half-time. Rakitic replaced the injured Mateo Kovacic in a 1-1 draw that keeps Croatia top of Group E.

Source: barcablaugranes.com