It's international week, a time for club managers to cross their fingers and toes in the hope that their stars come back safe and sound. 

There are some players who relish the international breaks, those who have the capacity to turn it on for their countries. 

In most cases, there's a general opinion that players perform better at club level than they manage to show on a regular basis with their country...but that doesn't happen all the time.

Here we identify five Barcelona would-be stars who seemed to have the opposite trouble: never quite as good in red and blue as they were in the jerseys of their national teams.

5. Aleksandr Hleb, Belarus

When Aleksandr Hleb made the move from Arsenal to Barcelona in 2008, he wasn't seen as the final piece of the jigsaw or anything approaching that level of importance, but he had enjoyed an impressive time with the Gunners and should have been a good addition to the squad.

Competing for a spot alongside the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita simply didn't get the best out of the Belarus international, however, and he ultimately started only eight matches in La Liga in his debut campaign.

Indeed, 2008/09 was the only season Hleb spent in the Barca squad. A succession of loans to VfB Stuttgart, Birmingham City and Wolfsburg followed—not really impressing in any of them—and his club career quickly hit a downward spiral.

Unsurprisingly, Hleb rated his move from the Emirates Stadium to the Camp Nou as a big mistake, per the Guardian, but it didn't affect his game at international level.

Perhaps as a one-off talent from a nation with the population equal to that of Hungary and less than that of Haiti, it's unsurprising that Hleb continued to feature heavily, even as his game went into freefall. He was appointed Belarus captain shortly before joining Barcelona and was still a regular up until 2015.

He has amassed 78 caps, having played in a World Cup qualifier in November last year. However, despite four years on the books at Barca and the club winning the double in his first year, Hleb played just 36 times in all competitions and never made his mark.

4. Claudio Bravo, Chile

It doesn't always have to be a player who failed at the club, however, to make the list of those who were better at international level.

Claudio Bravo doesn't come into the "failure" category; his two seasons at Barcelona yielded two La Liga titles, as well as a host of cup triumphs which he watched from the bench—he was the league 'keeper while Marc-Andre ter Stegen played in Europe and the Copa del Rey.

The Chilean was particularly impressive in his first season, keeping a host of clean sheets—including in his first eight league matches—as he brought in the post-Victor Valdes era in style.

But no matter how well he fared for Barca in his first campaign, it didn't compare with his exploits for Chile.

Bravo captained his country to the 2015 Copa America, putting in some incredible performances en route to a first trophy success for La Roja.

During the tournament he played every minute, saved a penalty in the final shootout and was named in the team of the tournament. He then did it all over again the following summer, winning the Copa America Centenario and saving a penalty again in the shootout, this time from Argentina's Lucas Biglia.

Bravo didn't quite match his first-season levels for Barca in 2015/16, perhaps partly explaining why Ter Stegen was chosen to stay on and the South American was sold to Manchester City. He was an excellent stopper for the Blaugrana nonetheless—just not quite as good as he was for Chile.

3. Cesc Fabregas, Spain

This should have been an ideal move—but it wasn't.

Cesc Fabregas left Barcelona for Arsenal as a youth player in 2003, emerging as a first-team regular for the Gunners before his eventual—and somewhat inevitable—move back to the Camp Nou in 2011.

But, while Fabregas featured a lot during his three-year stay back in Catalunya—over 150 games all told—he was too often a fourth wheel in midfield, used off the bench or rotated from one particular role to another.

In his first season back, he played central midfield, No. 10, on the left side of the attack and as a false-nine forward. He completed the full 90 minutes just 10 times in La Liga. Even by his third season, when he was a regular starter in midfield, there remained the sense that he didn't quite fit properly—and his sale to Chelsea in 2014 was far from unexpected.

Yet, in the meantime, Fabregas had carved himself a niche role for Spain on the international scene; this all-conquering side somehow lacked a striker of guaranteed starting credentials, and he was the man who stepped up to fill the void.

At Euro 2012, he was the starting forward—the false nine—creating and scoring throughout the tournament, including an assist in the final itself.

Like his time at Barcelona, Fabregas' starting berth for Spain eventually came to an end, but his most important period in the national team coincided with him being unable to become a trusted fixture for the club he wanted to star for most of all.

2. Gianluca Zambrotta, Italy

Barcelona's all-out-attack style often means their full-backs are entrusted to be extensions of the final third; outlets on the counter, inducing width to stretch opposition defences in buildup play and having a quality final pass to help create chance after chance for the talented forwards in the team.

In theory, Gianluca Zambrotta was a perfect fit. He was an attacking wing-back, capable of playing both sides of the defence, and an Italy international who had been at Juventus for years.

Indeed, Zambrotta wasn't just any old name in the Italy squad—he inherited Paolo Maldini's spot on the left side more often than not. Stylistically, he was very different to the Milan legend but capable of aiding the side in his own way nonetheless, and he was named in the Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament.

Better was to come: Zambrotta was a first choice for Marcello Lippi at the 2006 World Cup and played a starring role for his nation once more, en route to success in Germany.

That was enough to prompt Barca's move, but his two years in Spain were riddled with errors, underperformance and a sense that Zambrotta was held back from displaying his best form, perhaps as a result of the great difference in mentalities between Barcelona and Juve or Italy.

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden

King of the disappointments, at least as far as comparing international exploits to Barcelona time goes, is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish maestro actually started his time at the Camp Nou in typical fashion: he netted a goal in each of his first five La Liga matches, and eight in his first 11 in all competitions. Not bad at all—but the downward spiral soon came about, as Lionel Messi switched from the right into the centre of the attack and Ibrahimovic was the man to make way.

He still scored 21 in all competitions in 2009/10, his only season in the first-team squad at Barcelona, but that haul pales in comparison to his usual tallies. And his time on the bench at the Camp Nou was in direct contrast to how he has spent the rest of his career—particularly at international level where he had little short of godlike status.

In fact, it's worth noting that across 2012 and 2013—just after he permanently left Barcelona—Ibrahimovic scored 20 times for Sweden in only 19 games, while netting only 16 in 29 in La Liga for the Spanish side.

Ibrahimovic won the FIFA Puskas Award for Sweden, is the leading scorer of all time for his nation and seemed to single-handedly take them to the Euro 2016 finals, after which he retired.

He'll be remembered as one of his country's greatest sportsmen, not just in football—but he never came remotely close to those heights at Barcelona.