• No place for £37m signing ahead of Italy friendly
• Fernando Torres also out of favour
Juan Mata has been left out of Spain's squad for next Wednesday's friendly against Italy.
The £37.1m recruit from Chelsea in January has yet to find his best form since moving to Old Trafford and pays with his place in the final Spain squad before their head coach Vicente del Bosque names his preliminary World Cup party in May.
Del Bosque found no room in his 22-man squad for Chelsea striker Fernando Torres, while Atlético Madrid's David Villa also dropped out.
Álvaro Negredo and David Silva of Manchester City, César Azpilicueta of Chelsea and Santi Cazorla of Arsenal do, however, make the cut.
Villa's club-mate Diego Costa may make his debut for the world champions after switching nationality, having previously made two appearances in friendly internationals for his native Brazil. Costa had been in Spain's squad for autumn friendlies against Equitorial Guinea and South Africa, but injury forced him to withdraw.
He will be on familiar territory should Del Bosque select him, with the match against the Azzurri to be played at Atlético's Vicente Calderon stadium.
Del Bosque played down the significance of his squad selection on World Cup plans, saying: "This is a list only for the match against Italy. It doesn't mean anything for Brazil 2014."
Spain squad
Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Napoli), Valdés (Barcelona); Juanfran (Atlético Madrid), J Martínez (Bayern Munich), Ramos (Real Madrid), Alba (Barcelona), Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Albiol (Napoli); X Alonso (Real Madrid), Busquets (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Koke (Atlético Madrid), Thiago (Bayern Munich), Iniesta (Barcelona), Navas (Barcelona), Cazorla (Arsenal), Fabregas (Barcelona), Silva (Manchester City); Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Negredo (Manchester City), Pedro (Barcelona).
via Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com http://ift.tt/1kuBTCw
No comments:
Post a Comment