Six Barcelona players were in action in Spain’s final match of the international break as La Roja played a goalless draw against a Mohamed Salah-less Egypt at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium on Tuesday night in what will certainly go down in history as one of the games of all time.
Lamine Yamal was somehow named in the starting lineup alongside Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres, but
the teenager was thankfully replaced at halftime along with Olmo, who saw his club teammate Fermín López take his place for the second half. Pedri also played the final 45 minutes, while Ferran lasted an hour before being replaced by Borja Iglesias. Pau Cubarsí did not feature and stayed on the bench, thankfully.
The highlight from a Barça perspective was the international debut of Joan Garcia, who came on with a half-hour to go and had somewhat of a mixed reception thanks to his controversial switch from Espanyol to Barça last summer. It was certainly the loudest the stadium got all night, because the 90 minutes were almost unwatchable with very little quality and a whole lot of fouls.
Thankfully no Barça players were injured or had to play extended minutes, and they’ll all return in one piece for the season’s stretch run. As for Spain, this was somewhat of a deflating send-off before they meet again to prepare for the World Cup, but La Roja will undoubtedly enter the summer tournament as one of the main favorites regardless of today’s result.
