Barca facing hectic schedule after brutal international break

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It’s about to get VERY busy

Barcelona are set to face Osasuna next week in their rearranged La Liga fixture which will kick off a brutal run of fixtures for Hansi Flick’s side.

The German is said to be really angry at the new date for the Osasuna game, not least because he’s likely to be without some key players for the game.

The match also means that Barcelona basically play a game every three days for the next couple of weeks.

Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule.

• Barcelona vs Osasuna (La Liga) - March 27
• Barcelona vs Girona (La Liga) - March 30
• Atletico vs Barcelona (Copa del Rey) - April 2
• Barcelona vs Real Betis (La Liga) - April 5
• Barcelona vs Dortmund (La Liga) - April 9
• Leganes vs Barcelona (La Liga) - April 12

It’s also been a fairly brutal international break for Barcelona. It kicked off with Inigo Martinez and Marc Casado being ruled out through injury. Martinez has returned to training with Barca but Casado is set for two months out and may not play again this season.

Pau Cubarsi also picked up an ankle injury and was sent back to his club early, while Roberto Lewandowski has been playing through the pain barrier for Poland.

Photo by Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images

And then there’s Spain and France who both played extra-time and penalties on Sunday night.

Lamine Yamal and Jules Kounde both played 120 minutes (and missed penalties), while Dani Olmo managed 84 minutes and De Jong took in 106 on his second match of the break after missing the Atletico game through illness.

Even Pedri, who didn’t start the second leg against the Netherlands, admitted to fatigue and didn’t seem to even know if Barca’s game was on or not.

“We’re a little tired, but we can’t forget that we’re Barça. If it’s decided we have to play on Thursday, we’ll do it, and we’ll give everything we have to win in La Liga,” he added.

Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Meanwhile, over in South America, Raphinha and Ronald Araujo are still with their national teams. There had been hope Araujo could return early but he’s in Bolivia with Uruguay, while Raphinha is facing a huge game against Argentina.

Yet there has been at least some good news for Flick. Fermin Lopez, Pablo Torre and Gerard Martin were released early from Spain Under-21 duty, Martinez is on the comeback trail, while the likes of Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Eric Garcia and Wojciech Szczęsny have all just enjoyed five days off and should be raring to go.

Source: barcablaugranes.com