Hectic Week Sees Barca's Stars Disperse Across The Globe

With a two week break between league fixtures and the departure of some Barcelona's most vital players to join their respective national teams, it would be easy to forget that Pep Guardiola's team actually has a match tomorrow. 

The Catalans will take on Cultural Leonesa in the Copa Del Rey at the Camp Nou with a 2-0 lead thanks to a Pedro brace in the away fixture in Leon. Pedro was on target twice again in a 4-2 victory over Real Mallorca at home over the weekend, and is likely to start again Tuesday. 

With Pedro likely to feature, Barca will be without injured duo Zlatan Ibrahimovic and midfielder Seydou Keita. The injuries are certainly worrisome, although both should recover in time to face Athletic Bilbao on November 22nd. Other players have left for critical World Cup fixtures across the globe. 

Yaya Toure has joined up with the Ivory Coast team that has already qualified for South Africa 2010, but have one qualifier remaining against Guinea. 

Thierry Henry, Eric Abidal, and their French teammates face a tricky two-legged World Cup playoff against the Republic of Ireland. Henry, who has missed much of the season through injury, will feel confident after finally getting on the score sheet against Mallorca at the weekend.

The France captain was also on target for his country last month in a victory of Austria, and he will certainly rest easier should Les Blues manage to get past the Irish. 

Ukranian defender Dmytro Chigrynskiy and his countrymen will face Greece in an equally difficult playoff. 

While those players fight tooth and nail to reach the World Cup, Guardiola's squad will be depleted further due to various friendly matches at the weekend. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, and Gerard Pique are in Vicente del Bosque's Spain squad that will take on Lionel Messi's Argentina side in Madrid on Saturday.

The imminent international games could serve as a distraction to Barca, so they will be happy with their two goal cushion in the Copa de Rey tie. In contrast, Real Madrid will have to field the majority of their big guns against Alcocorn after falling 4-0 away. 

Guardiola could opt to play many of the youngsters with Busquets and Bojan also tipped to start.

A workmen's effort tomorrow should be enough to see Barca through to the next round. After that, Guardiola's attention will be split between the players that will remain in Barcelona and those playing elsewhere. With the massive Champions League encounter with Inter looming, an injury free week is necessary.