Three more Barcelona players withdraw from international duty ahead of Osasuna fixture | OneFootball

On Friday, Pau Cubarsi dropped out of the Spain squad, returning to Barcelona in the process, after picking up an ankle injury. And only a few hours later, more players from Hansi Flick’s squad that were on international duty have made their way back to the Catalan capital.

Numerous Barcelona players were selected for Santi Denia’s Spain U21 squad for the ongoing international break, but three have now returned without playing a single minute of action – La Rojita only have one match, and it is a friendly against Germany U21s on Tuesday.

Late on Friday evening, the Spanish Football Federation announced that the Barcelona trio of Fermin Lopez, Pablo Torre and Gerard Martin have dropped out on the Spain U21 squad ahead of the trip to Germany. They have been replaced by Real Valladolid pair David Torres and Raul Moro.

“David Torres and Raúl Moro, both Real Valladolid players, will join the U-21 National Team expedition this Saturday, which will continue to work in Lorca until Monday when it travels to Darmstadt to play against Germany on Tuesday. For their part, Fermín López, Pablo Torre and Gerard Martín leave the concentration.”

Pablo Torre is one of the players hoping for minutes when Barcelona take on Osasuna in their rearranged fixture on Thursday (Image via MD / FC Barcelona)

It is worth noting that had Fermin, Torre and Martin played for Spain U21s on Tuesday, they would have been very unlikely to feature for Barcelona two days later in their rearranged La Liga fixture against Osasuna, which takes place at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Thursday evening.

They will now be eyeing an increased chance at possible minutes in that match, and a victory for Barcelona would see them move three points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga title race. The Catalans are also hopeful of having Raphinha and Ronald Araujo available, both of whom are in action less than 48 hours before the Osasuna fixture.