Vicente Del Bosque has admitted that the reason that he chose to leave in-form Chelsea ace Juan Mata out of the Spain squad was because there was no room for him.
By Lucas Brown
The Furia Roja coach announced his squad for the forthcoming games against Belarus and France on Friday and raised eyebrows with the omission of Mata.
“We could not find him a place,” Del Bosque explained.
“We have enough players for the games. We have chosen those that we think are the best to compete in these matches.”
The only new face from the last squad, that faced Saudi Arabia and Georgia, is Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez, who is included in place of the injured Gerard Pique.
Alvaro Negredo is also left out despite putting in some decent recent displays for Sevilla and Valencia’s Roberto Soldado retains his spot among the strikers.
Carlos Puyol was also not considered and would have been unavailable anyway after injuring his arm in the victory against Benfica in midweek.
“I have not spoken to Puyol,” Del Bosque continued. “I have only sent him a message to get well soon. We all hope that he recovers soon and reaches 100 international appearances.”
