Baghdad-INA
Spain coach Luis Enrique summoned today, Friday, a young squad of 26 players to play the team’s matches in the World Cup in Qatar, which included Barcelona striker Ansu Fati, while the veteran French defender Sergio Ramos was excluded.
Enrique used a squad that was free of surprises, with the presence of veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets, who is the only player in the squad among the 2010 World Cup winners, in addition to many new names such as Hugo Giamon, Yeremi Pino, Nico Williams, Pedri and Gavi, but without some Old cadres such as Ramos and the recently retired Gerard Pique.
Thus, Gavi, the jewel of Barcelona, becomes the youngest Spanish player to participate in the World Cup, breaking the previous record held by Cesc Fabregas in 2006 (19 years and one month).
With less than half of the list for players under 25 years old, Spain will play the world football wedding in Qatar with one of the youngest squads and a dream of second international dedication 12 years after winning in South Africa 2010.
The most prominent absentees from the final list are Inigo Martinez, Marcos Alonso and Thiago Alcantara, who injured his hamstring at the start of the season, is in midfield.
Also absent is Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias, who was called up by Enrique for the first time during the international window at the end of September.
"We thought about the list until the last minute, until last night we still had doubts about the attack, but we ended up removing it overnight," Enrique said at a press conference on Friday.
The coach, nicknamed "Lucho", stressed that he did not want to change "everything before the World Cup", and encouraged confidence in his young group.