Graduation For Two U-21 Players, Barcelona And Real Madrid Domination
Vicente del Bosque will have to do without the likes of Carles Puyol and Pedro Rodriguez. The Barcelona pair joins Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas on the sidelines. Puyol is yet to recover from his knee injury whereas Pedro and Fabregas are carrying hamstring and groin injuries respectively.
The exclusion of both Puyol and Pedro still doesn’t deny Barcelona from having the highest number of players in Vicente del Bosque’s roster for Spain’s Euro 2012 qualifier against the Czech Republic. The Catalans actually have 6 of their players called up for this international game whereas Real Madrid have 5.
Athletic Bilbao, however, have Javi Martinez and Andoni Iraola included in Del Bosque’s team list as well as Fernando Llorente. Along with Javi Martinez, Valencia’s Juan Mata is 2 of Spain’s U-21 stars to have been promoted into the senior national team.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Fernando Torres, who’s suffering from a goal drought since leaving Liverpool, will be looking to find the net at last again. El Nino has been named alongside Fernando Llorente and David Villa.
According to reports, Vicente del Bosque’s squad will begin training on Tuesday at 18:30 local time at Last Rozas training ground ahead of Spain vs Czech Republic. This match is set to take place in Granada and Spain’s full squad goes as follows:
Goalkeepers: Víctor Valdés [FC Barcelona], Iker Casillas [Real Madrid CF], José Reina [Liverpool FC]
Defenders: Sergio Ramos [Real Madrid CF], Álvaro Arbeloa [Real Madrid CF], Gerard Piqué [FC Barcelona], Raúl Albiol [Real Madrid CF], Carlos Marchena [Villarreal CF], Andoni Iraola [Athletic Club], Joan Capdevila [Villarreal CF]
Midfielders: Andrés Iniesta [FC Barcelona], Xabi Alonso [Real Madrid CF],Santi Cazorla [Villarreal CF], Sergio Busquets [FC Barcelona], Javi Martínez [Athletic Club], Xavi Hernández [FC Barcelona], Juan Mata [Valencia CF], Jesús Navas [Sevilla FC], David Silva [Manchester City FC]
Forwards: Fernando Torres [Chelsea FC], Fernando Llorente [Athletic Club], David Villa [FC Barcelona]
