Barcelona's International Break: Flick's Limited Squad and Gavi's Determination

Barcelona will walk into this strange, elongated international break with a spring in their step and three points in their pocket.

Hansi Flick’s side signed off with a 3-1 win away to Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan on Saturday, a statement result and performance that neatly closes this early stretch of the season before the squad scatters across the globe.

Now comes the awkward part.

Flick left with only six

One of the big unknowns was how Flick would handle an international window that stretches longer than usual. The answer is now clear – and it underlines just how stripped-back his working group will be.

According to SPORT, the German coach will have only six first-team players at his disposal during the break: Gavi, Gerard Martin, Alejandro Balde, Gabriel Jesus, Brian Farinas and Wojciech Szczesny.

That number does not include the injured trio Joan Garcia, Andreas Christensen and Frenkie de Jong. All three will stay at the Ciutat Esportiva to follow their individual recovery plans, separate from Flick’s reduced training group.

It leaves Barcelona’s head coach with a skeleton crew and a different kind of challenge: keep sharpness and rhythm for a handful of players while the rest of the dressing room is thousands of miles away.

Four sessions, then silence

The schedule has been set. Barcelona will train from Tuesday through Friday with that small core of first-teamers. After that, the lights go out.

From 28 September until 4 October, the remaining players will be given a full week off. Training is due to resume on 5 October, when the internationals filter back and Flick can finally work with something close to a full squad again.

So the coach has four sessions to drill and fine-tune with his six available players, then a long pause before the next phase of the season begins. It is a strange rhythm, but one Barcelona will have to manage carefully with a packed calendar looming.

Gavi refuses a day off

Monday was officially a rest day. The squad stayed away. Even Flick did not set foot at the Ciutat Esportiva.

Gavi did.

The midfielder turned up to train voluntarily, putting in extra work while most of his teammates recharged. Joan Garcia and Christensen were also present at the facilities, continuing their rehabilitation programmes as they push to return.

Fermin Lopez made only a brief appearance, stopping by to pick up belongings before heading out again. The real collective work restarts on Tuesday, when Flick gathers whoever is left for that short, intense block of sessions.

Raphinha’s very different reality

While the players remaining in Catalonia can switch off and enjoy a rare extended break, Raphinha will live a completely different international window.

The Brazilian leaves for national team duty at the best moment of his Barcelona career so far. His hat-trick against Sevilla not only powered the 3-1 win, it also lifted him to the top of the La Liga scoring charts.

Now comes a brutal travel schedule. Brazil are set to play two matches in Australia, sending Raphinha almost halfway around the world, before he continues on to India for another friendly.

Only then will he fly back to Barcelona and rejoin a season that, for him, has exploded into life. The question now is simple: when he returns from that exhausting tour, can he keep firing at the same devastating pace?