The action in Europe’s top-five leagues returns this weekend, with players reporting back to club duty following the two-week international break.
Real Madrid saw their players record the most minutes of action during the international break with 16 players completing 2,027 minutes over the two fixtures.
Five Los Blancos players: Keylor Navas (Costa Rica), Toni Kroos (Germany), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Casemiro (Brazil) and Marcelo (Brazil) played 180 minutes – the most out of the top 10 teams to play the full 90 minutes in both fixtures.
One of the star men during the break – Isco – played 144 minutes and scored three goals in Spain’s 6-1 win over Argentina.
Their La Liga rivals Barcelona – who look primed to lift the La Liga title – are second on the list with 1,646 minutes.
Remarkably, the Catalan giants – along with Borussia Dortmund and PSG – are the only teams in the top-10 not to have a player who played 180 minutes over the two fixtures.
Of their 13 players away on national duty, Samuel Umtiti (170), Jordi Alba (169) and Ivan Rakitic (166) played the most minutes – while Thomas Vermaelen (45) played the least and Lionel Messi was out injured for both of Argentina’s games.
Man City look on course to clinch the Premier League crown over the coming weeks and they sit third on the list with 1,513 minutes.
Nicolas Otamendi and Kyle Walker played 180 minutes each – while John Stones completed 163 minutes in England’s matches against Italy (73) and Netherlands (90).
While Man United may be 16 points off Man City in the Premier League title race, they are second on the charts with 1,427 minutes of action for their 14 players who were away on international duty.
David de Gea (Spain) and Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast) completed the full match in both fixtures for their respective teams, while Matteo Darmian played zero minutes – sitting on the bench for Italy’s Argentina (0-2) and England (1-1).
Liverpool, who sit third in the Premier League, also boast the third highest minutes of the English clubs with 1,244 of their 13 players involved with their various national teams.
Two players played the full 180, with Virgil van Dijk a totemic presence in Netherlands’ matches against England (0-1) and Portugal (3-0), while Ragnar Klavan (Estonia) turned in virtuous displays against Armenia and Georgia.
Roberto Firmino played just 25 minutes of Brazil’s matches against Russia and Germany, while Dirvick Origi was an unused substitute during Belgium’s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
In France, PSG are storming towards a fifth domestic crown in six years and had 15 players away on international break, completing 1,313 minutes.
Thiago Silva completed the full 180 during Brazil’s two fixtures – with Dani Alves coming off with seven minutes remaining against Russia – playing 173 in total.
Edinson Cavani played 170 minutes of Uruguay’s China Cup triumph – scoring in the two wins over Czech Republic and Wales.
Timothy Weah played just four minutes in USA’s 1-0 win over Paraguay, while Alphonse Areola and Marquinhos were unsued substitutes in France and Brazil’s respective fixtures.
Juventus are in pole position to seal their seventh consecutive Serie A title and recorded 1,193 minutes for their 10 players away on national duty.
Mattia De Sciglio and Daniele Rugani played every minute of Italy’s matches against Argentina and England, while Wojciech Szczesny played just 45 minutes for Poland.
Two points adrift of the Old Lady in the title race, Napoli had 887 minutes for their players – with Lorenzo Insigne (Italy) and Piotr Zielinski (Poland) completing full fixtures.
Arkadiusz Milik played just 47 minutes for Portugal (18 against Nigeria and 29 against South Korea), while Pepe Reina was an unused substitute for Spain’s matches against Germany and Argentina.
Of the Bundesliga teams, Bayern Munich’s players completed three times as many minutes (1,205) as Borussia Dortmund (392).
Joshua Kimmich – who recently signed a new deal at the Allianz Arena – played 180 minutes of Germany’s matches against Spain and Brazil, while James Rodriguez (Colombia) followed closely behind with 163 minutes.
Corentin Tolisso played the least with 24 minutes in France’s win over Russia.
