How have they fared? #UCL stars in international action
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
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UEFA.com rounds up the UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists' recent international exploits – featuring the likes of Neymar, Lewandowski, Buffon, Okazaki, Mbappé and Ronaldo.
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ATLÉTICO
Antoine Griezmann: scored France's second goal in the 3-1 win against Luxembourg before having one ruled out for offside in the 2-0 friendly loss to Spain.
Koke: appeared as a substitute in 4-1 qualifying defeat of Israel before starting against Les Bleus, when he lined up against club-mates Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro.
Diego Godín: captained Uruguay in their 4-1 defeat by Brazil and a 2-1 loss in Peru.
BARCELONA
Neymar: scored a delightful chip against Uruguay (4-1) and finished a breathtaking solo run against Paraguay (3-0) to help Brazil become the first team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Lionel Messi: scored the only goal – from the penalty spot – as Argentina, who are still outside CONMEBOL's automatic qualifying berths for the World Cup, beat Chile.
Luis Suárez: suspended for that loss to Brazil and, though he provided an assist in Uruguay's other qualifier against Peru, his country went down 2-1.
BAYERN
Robert Lewandowski: scored a fine free-kick against Montenegro to take his qualifying tally to eight. Has now scored in ten successive European Qualifiers.
David Alaba: captained Austria for the first time – on his 55th cap – against Moldova due to Julian Baumgartlinger's suspension.
Thomas Müller: struck his 37th international goal as Germany beat Azerbaijan 4-1, moving him level with Oliver Bierhoff in his country's list of all-time top scorers.
DORTMUND
Emre Mor: scored his first senior international goal – on his tenth appearance – as Turkey beat Moldova 3-1 in a friendly.
Łukasz Piszczek: struck the winner against Montenegro eight minutes from time to send Poland six points clear at the top of Group E.
André Schürrle: scored one and set up another to be named man of the match in Germany's 4-1 success over Azerbaijan.
JUVENTUS
Gianluigi Buffon: Italy's 2-0 win against Albania was his 1,000th senior appearance for club and country. Also took him to 168 international caps, more than any European player in history.
Dani Alves: part of the Brazil side that sealed World Cup qualification with a 4-1 triumph over Uruguay. Also in South America, Juan Cuadrado scored as Colombia beat Ecuador.
Leonardo Bonucci: struck the Azzurri's winner against the Netherlands in Tuesday's friendly.
LEICESTER
Shinji Okazaki: scored his 50th international goal as Japan won 4-0 against Thailand in qualifying.
Jamie Vardy: played 70 minutes of England's friendly defeat by Germany before scoring with his first touch in the 2-0 qualifying defeat of Lithuania on Sunday.
Kasper Schmeichel: the in-form goalkeeper, named Danish footballer of the year last week, helped his country to a goalless draw with Romania at the weekend.
MONACO
Kylian Mbappé: aged 18 years and 95 days, became the youngest French international since 1955 in the victory against Luxembourg. Benjamin Mendy and Tiemoué Bakayoko also made France debuts in the past week.
Nabil Dirar: started both Morocco's friendly wins against Burkino Faso (2-0) and Tunisia (1-0), providing an assist in the first of those.
Danijel Subašić: made four saves in a fine display as Croatia beat Ukraine 1-0 to go outright top of qualifying Group I.
REAL MADRID
Cristiano Ronaldo: scored twice as Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 in qualifying and then hit the opener in the friendly against Sweden – which ended in defeat – on his home island of Madeira. Now joint-third on list of Europe's all-time top international scorers with 71 goals.
Marcelo: provided an exquisite finishing touch to round off Brazil's sensational win against Paraguay.
Toni Kroos: helped Germany to a 4-1 victory in Azerbaijan which maintains the world champions' 100% qualifying record after five games.