Five World Cup matches Barcelona fans won’t want to miss

The World Cup is almost here with the best players in the world all in Russia bidding to lift the famous trophy.

Barcelona are well-represented and have 14 players at the World Cup. Here’s a look at some of the matches you might want to watch to catch Barca stars in action.

Egypt vs Uruguay - Suarez takes on Salah and Co.

Date: Friday 15th June, Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg, 1pm BST/8am ET

Barcelona fans only have to wait until Friday to see the first of their players in action as Luis Suarez’s Uruguay take on Egypt.

Suarez has a fair bit of making up to do when it comes to World Cups having been sent home in disgrace from World Cup 2014 for taking a chunk out of Giorgio Chiellini.

He’ll shoulder Uruguay’s hopes in Russia, and the team look well-placed to qualify from Group A.

Mohamed Salah will hope to light up the World Cup for Egypt, although there’s still some doubt over whether he will play after being Sergio Ramosed in the Champions League final.

Spain vs Portugal - Alba, Pique and Busquets face Ronaldo

Date: Friday 15th June, Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, 7pm BST/2pm ET

Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Friday also sees Spain kick off their campaign and recent events make this an event even more of a must-watch after La Roja fired Julen Lopetegui.

Fernando Hierro has taken over as boss, and it will be intriguing to see how the chaos of the last 48 hours or so has affected the players.

There will be plenty of familiar faces to look out for in the match, and Spain will be hoping to put one over Cristiano Ronaldo’s European champions.

Brazil vs Switzerland - Coutinho & Paulinho face tough test

Date: Sunday 17th June, Rostov Arena, 7pm BST/2pm ET

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Favourites Brazil kick off their campaign against a Switzerland side who rather surprisingly are ranked sixth in the world, according to Fifa at least.

Tite’s side were great in qualifying and have looked very tasty in their warm-up games ahead of the tournament in Russia,

Coutinho was on target last time out for Brazil and Paulinho has a great goalscoring record under Tite so we may see goals from the Barcelona duo on Sunday.

Argentina vs Croatia - Messi faces Rakitic

Date: Thursday 21st June, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, 7pm BST/2pm ET

Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images

Lionel Messi faces his Barcelona team-mate Ivan Rakitic in what will be both teams’ second game of Group D.

Argentina will expect Messi to carry them all the way to World Cup glory, but they’ve had a pretty chaotic build-up to the tournament and made a right meal of qualifying.

Croatia have plenty of talented players who can trouble Argentina. There’s Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic and Real Madrid duo Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic which might add a bit of spice.

Denmark vs France - Barcelona targets Eriksen and Griezmann clash

Date: Tuesday 26th June, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, 3pm BST/10am ET

Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

France’s final group game comes against Denmark in a game which will see Barca targets Antoine Griezmann and Christian Eriksen clash.

By the time the game kicks off we may have an idea of Griezmann’s future plans, and if he does opt to stay at Atletico then Eriksen may be on the agenda for Barcelona.

Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele may also feature for France, and if Group C is not decided there could be plenty riding on this match.

Which matches and players are you most looking forward to seeing at the World Cup? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!