LaLiga stars shine during international break

LaLiga players were out to impress during the international break, with Liga BBVA and Liga Adelante stars together accounting for a number of goals and top performances.

In the EURO 2016 warm-up friendlies, Aritz Aduriz marked his return to the Spanish national team after a six-year absence with La Roja's equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Italy in Udine. Another of the Liga BBVA's leading goalscorers, Antoine Griezmann, was also on target, dispatching a stunning free-kick to help France triumph 3-2 away to the Netherlands. In another showdown between European powerhouses, Germany's clash with England, Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos broke the deadlock with a left-footed rocket into the bottom corner, although this was not enough to prevent his country falling to a 3-2 defeat in Berlin. Toni Kroos went on to up his goalscoring tally once more in his side's second friendly showdown, the Germans this time coming away with a 4-1 victory against Italy. Arda Turan has also been making a splash for his national side, a goal from the FC Barcelona player contributing to Turkey's 2-1 win against Austria. Never one to miss out, Cristiano Ronaldo made up for a missed penalty in Portugal's Bulgaria game by netting one of the two goals which sealed his side the win. Meanwhile, although he didn't find the net, Cordoba CF forward Florin Andone caught the eye in Romania's 0-0 stalemate with Spain. 

Golazoooooo !! pic.twitter.com/ZQXENfKSo7

— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) March 25, 2016

The recent South American qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup also featured their fair share of goals and great displays from LaLiga representatives. Luis Suarez earned Uruguay a 2-2 draw away to Brazil in Recife, in a game that Filipe Luis, Neymar and Alvaro Pereira also played in. The Azulgrana again led Uruguay to their 1-0 victory by serving up an assist for Edinson Cavani to finish for the only goal of the match. For his part, Real Madrid attacking midfielder James Rodriguez scored one and set up another in Colombia's 3-2 win in Bolivia. The Los Blancos star followed up in his team's second showdown with another superb assist for Carlos Bacca, who put away the opener in Colombia-Ecuador, which ended 3-1 to the Cafeteros. Dani Alves emerged as the hero of the hour for Brazil as they went up against Paraguay. The FC Barcelona player equalised for his national side when they were trailing 2-1, thereby salvaging a point for his country.

There was a particularly large LaLiga contingent in the Chile v Argentina match, with FC Barcelona duo Claudio Bravo and Lionel Messi on opposite sides, while Atletico Madrid's Matias Kranevitter and Augusto Fernandez, RC Celta's Marcelo Diaz and Fabian Orellana, and Sevilla FC's Ever Banega were also involved. Banega supplied the assist for the opening goal, while Orellana created Chile's equaliser and Messi set up the winner for the Argentinians. The Barça star again went on to shine in Argentina's second friendly, scoring from a penalty to bring his goal tally for the Albicelestes to 50. Fabian Orellana was another BBVA Liga who again impressed in the second round of matches, the RC Celta player teed up an opportunity for Vidal, who finished it to deliver Chile their 3-1 result against a Venezuelaside which featured Juanpi and Adalberto Peñaranda. A LaLiga goalscorer could also be found in the CONCACAF zone of World Cup qualifying, with CD Tenerife forward Anthony Lozano on the mark in Honduras's 2-2 draw in El Salvador.

Furthermore, Liga BBVA and Liga Adelante stars made their presence felt in the latest batch of 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Villarreal CF's Congolese striker Cedric Bakambu kept up his purple patch with a strike from the penalty spot in his country's 2-1 victory over Angola. Youssef El-Arabi netted the only goal as Morocco came away 1-0 winners from Cape Verde. The Granada player was the star of the show again in the return match, this time delivering a brace. Sofiane Feghouli was even more on song for Algeria against Ethiopia: the Valencia CF livewire notched a brace in a 7-1 romp for his country, for whom UD Levante's Carl Medjani also lined up. William Jebor was another player to put in a stellar performance during the international break, the SD Ponferradina player serving up a hat-trick to seal the win for Liberia against Dijbouti.