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| Lionel Messi and Claudio Bravo will be at the Copa America |
After the 2015/2016 came to a close for FC Barcelona on May 22 when they secured their fourth title of the season, some Barcelona players will have just little holidays as they travel to help their respective National Teams in different tournaments this summer.
Three major international competitions will hold this summer and it will see fourteen players from the Catalan giants being in action across these competitions, fourteen excluding Marc Bartra who already signed a contract with German Club Borussia Dortmund. These 14 Barça players will represent their national teams across the Copa America, the European Championship and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Here is a brief summary of the players we will see in the Copa America 2016 that also fly the flags of FC Barcelona.
THE COPA CENTENARIO
The Copa Centenario is the 46th edition of the Copa America which is celebrating its 100-year existence and it will be the first ever Copa America tournament to be held outside of South America as it is currently taking place in North America, precisely the United States.
Five Barça players (Including Dani Alves who is yet to officially leave) will be representing their nations in the 2016 Copa America tournament.
Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano will be looking to win their first ever senior trophy for Argentina after missing out on the World Cup in 2014 and the Copa America last year both in the final. Messi however is a doubt for Los Albiceleste’s opening clash against Chile which is led by FC Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo who will be looking to lift the title for the second consecutive time.
Also, outgoing defender Dani Alves will represent Brazil in a bid to add to his trophy cabinet and increase his lead as the Brazilian and defender with most official trophies in history. Brazil already opened their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Ecuador in their first group game of the tournament.
The fifth and final participant from Barça in the Copa America is striker Luis Suarez. The star finished as FC Barcelona’s top scorer in 2015/2016 winning the Pichichi with 40 league goals. The lethal number 9 who will represent Uruguay in the tournament, he missed out on his team’s first game of the tournament through injury and they lost 3-1 against Mexico.
NOTE: Neymar won’t be featuring in the Copa America 2016 as both Brazil and FC Barcelona agreed that the player will represent his nation’s Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro in August.
