Barcelona faces the first international break of the season with a severely depleted first-team squad. Manager Hansi Flick will have only six players available for training this week, as 17 members of his squad have been called up for national team duty.

The list of absentees is long and significant. For the Nations League matches, Spain has called up Pau Cubarsí, Eric García, Rodri Hernández, Pedri González, Fermín López, Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal. La Roja will visit England at Wembley on Saturday 26 September before facing Croatia in Seville and Split. Other senior internationals include Karim Adeyemi (Germany), Jules Koundé (France), Raphinha (Brazil), João Cancelo (Portugal) and Hamza Albelkarim (Egypt).

This situation is compounded by four injury absences who would also have received call-ups. Club reporter Javier Gascón confirmed this, stating: "With Frenkie de Jong, Joan Garcia, Roony Bardghji and Andreas Christensen injured, four players who would also have gone with their national teams." This leaves the coaching staff with a very limited working group.

The six players at Flick's disposal are goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, full-back Alejandro Balde, defender Gerard Martín, midfielder Pablo Páez 'Gavi', youngster Brian Fariñas and forward Gabriel Jesus. This scenario highlights the squad's depth challenges as they sit top of La Liga with 21 points from seven games. The next fixture is the league match against Getafe at the Camp Nou on Saturday 10 October, an opponent currently sitting 11th in the table.

The team enters this break in excellent form, having won their last five matches. The most recent was a convincing 1-3 away win at Sevilla, featuring a hat-trick from Raphinha, the season's top scorer with 12 goals. The collective performance, with 31 goals scored and only 7 conceded, is the best in the division. To track the team's statistical progress, visit our stats section.

The resumption of domestic competition is not for nearly three weeks, providing a window for internationals to return and injured players to progress in their recoveries. Spain's schedule concludes on Tuesday 6 October in Croatia, giving players a few days to reintegrate before the key match against Getafe.

First reported at Mundo Deportivo