Youssouf Fofana expressed frustration over his absence from the French national team, noting the fierce competition in midfield. Despite his strong performances with Milan, including an assist and a goal in recent matches, he remains overlooked by coach Deschamps.
Arne Slot's side return from yet another international break preceded by a chastening defeat away from home. In October, it was Estevao's dramatic stoppage time winner that sunk the Reds at Stamford Bridge, but this month they will have to shake off a 3-0 hammering from Manchester City. Liverpool's starting line-up has never been under more scrutiny since the Dutchman arrived last year, although no Premier League side in history has had to live up to a £446 million transfer window.
Barcelona won't be able to call upon Raphinha for Sunday's trip to Celta Vigo in La Liga as he's still not ready to return. According to Diario AS, the Brazilian is "completely ruled out" even though his recovery is going well. Barca will not rush him back, after seeing him suffer a setback before El Clasico that left Hansi Flick furious, and will now wait until after the international break.
With the second international break of the 2025/26 season now behind us, FC Barcelona will return to action on Saturday, when they take on Girona in the Catalan derby. Leading up to the game, however, Hansi Flick & co. find themselves with a plethora of injury issues, even though Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez are set to return. Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo came back injured from national team duty and are out for a few weeks,
The international break. A perfect time to slow down, relax and put your football knowledge to the test. We've brought back our Guess the Footballers format - and there are 10 players to get. Looking for this weekend's Guess the Line-ups quiz? It was published on Tuesday to mark England's friendly against Wales.
Overall, this step to restructure the international schedule makes sense from a sporting perspective, both for the national teams and the clubs: For example, the national team coaches have longer time windows to practice, while at the same time, the league schedules are no longer interrupted as often. However, the opportunity could have been used to take a broader view, perhaps to consider further release periods in greater detail, and to make additional adjustments,
The most important thing is that they have all come back on time and healthy. Yes, we have had more players here than we usually have. Now we leave it behind and face the next block of games with a desire to continue growing and consolidating things.
Tom Bischof suffered an ill-timed appendectomy, which has him out of club and country during a period where he might have had a chance to establish himself as a potential starter. Now, though, Bischof is back in action and took the pitch for parts of team training on Monday at Säbener Straße. Clearly, Bischof will be looking to get healthy as soon as possible, so he can re-throw his hat into the midfield ring:
On today's pod: the international break is here, and England's squad raises more questions than answers. No Trent Alexander-Arnold, no Phil Foden or Jack Grealish, but a surprise return for Ruben Loftus-Cheek and call-ups for Elliot Anderson and Djed Spence. The panel asks how good England must be for us to learn anything new against Andorra before Tuesday's trip to Serbia.
