No bad blood exists.

Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba has denied the existence of a rift between him and his former boss. The 29-year-old Spaniard was omitted from Enrique's first two squads as national team coach. In his absence, La Furia Roja recorded three wins in four matches across all competitions.

Luis Enrique and Jordi Alba were both together at Barcelona between 2014 and 2017, winning two league titles and the UEFA Champions League. However, speculations suggested that the pair were not exactly on good terms before the former departed from the Catalonia club.

Jordi Alba was recalled to join Spain's squad ahead of its upcoming fixtures against Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina in a UEFA Nations League group game and an international friendly respectively. Speaking in Tuesday's news conference, the defender denied not seeing eye-to-eye with his national team boss.

"I've never had a problem with Luis Enrique and his staff.

"On the contrary, he [Luis Enrique] helped me a lot at Barca. I never said a bad word about Luis Enrique. I don't regret anything. I've always expressed my will to play but I don't have to apologize to anyone and neither does the coach.

"I always said that it was down to the coach as to when he would call me up," he added.

"The coach has many players to choose from and in the last two call-ups, he opted to select other players ahead of me. I've respected his opinion.

"My intention was to return. I've had a good start to the season and I feel comfortable. I'm grateful to be back.

"It's always nice to be in the Spain squad but this time is even more special. I've played 66 times for Spain but this feels like my first call-up."