Eight Barcelona players fighting for a place at next summer's World Cup...
Argentina, France and Portugal all hope to avoid joining Rakitic in a playoff
In the Barça squad, only Arda Turan and Jasper Cillessen have missed out so far
A large number of Barcelona's players are still waiting to see if they will be in the World Cup by the end of the week or if they will have to play in the playoffs in November.
On Tuesday, Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano are involved in an important qualifier for Argentina, while Barça's French and Portuguese players also have stuff on the line.
NO WORLD CUP
Arda Turan (Turkey) and Jasper Cillessen (Holland) already know they will not be going to Russia after their countries fell short in the group stage.
QUALIFIED
Ter Stegen (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Paulinho (Brazil), Vermaelen (Belgium) Piqué, Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Busquets (Spain) have already booked their place in Russia next summer.
They could be joined by Rafinha (Brazil), Denis Suárez, Deulofeu, Paco Alcácer and Aleix Vidal (Spain) if injuries respect them, the find some good form and play regular football.
WAITING...
There are seven Barcelona players in Europe and South America still waiting for things to be decided: Mascherano and Messi play against Ecuador on Tuesday; France featuring Samuel Umtiti and Lucas Digne (and Ousmane Dembele when fit) play Belarus; and Nelson Semedo and Andre Gomes' Portugal have a big game against Switzerland.
All three nations could qualify directly or they could end up in a playoff. Of the three, only Argentina are currently at risk of missing out altogether this week.
In exchange, Ivan Rakitic already knows Croatia must go through the playoffs if they want to be in Russia after coming second to Iceland. .
