Barcelona star makes national team case after outshining first-choice counterpart in Athletic Club game – Report | OneFootball

FC Barcelona celebrated their return to the Spotify Camp Nou in style, securing an impressive 4–0 win against Athletic Club. Ferran Torres, Robert Lewandowski, and Fermin Lopez were all on the scoresheet for the Catalan club.

The game against the Basque side also marked the return of Joan Garcia and Raphinha to the Barcelona squad after close to two months on the sidelines. The former started the game while the latter came off the bench.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Joan made a strong case for national team selection after outshining Spain’s number one, Unai Simón, who stood in goal for Athletic Club. The latter had a game to forget at the Camp Nou.

The 24-year-old made two saves out of two and helped Barcelona keep their first clean sheet since September. Unai Simón, on the other hand, made just three saves from seven shots faced and was culpable for the first two goals scored by Hansi Flick’s team.

Luis de la Fuente appears to have his goalkeeping group set, with Unai Simón, David Raya, and Álex Remiro as the three options, but if Joan continues to perform at this level for a club like Barcelona, a call-up will come sooner rather than later.

Since making the move to Barcelona from Espanyol in the summer, Joan has done very well to establish himself as one of the best sweeper keepers around.

He showed against Athletic Club that his meniscus injury is a thing of the past, and let us hope he can deliver another solid display against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.