In recent years, there have been several squads that have contained so few players – the October 2017 teams that beat Israel and Albania, or the November 2016 squad that drew against England. Roberto has argued that it is “anecdotal that there are only two Barcelona players” in the squad, and he may be right.

Not since May 2016 has there been only one Barca player in a Spain squad, when Marc Bartra was the only player called for the post-season friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina. In part, this has been brought about by the international retirements of Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta while Jordi Alba has controversially been overlooked by the new coach, whose selection of Sergi Roberto has ensured that Sergio Busquets will not be the sole representative of his former club.

In 2018, the number of Barcelona players in the Spanish national squad (3.6) is at the lowest for a decade.