Barcelona chief hits out as seven club players are picked for Spain game
Barcelona has reacted angrily to Spain coach Vincente del Bosque’s decision to call up a number of players from the club for next week’s international friendly match against Mexico.
Although Andreas Iniesta, the man who scored the winning goal at the 2010 FIFA World Cup final in South Africa, was left out of the squad, del Bosque still named seven players from the Catalan giants for Spain’s first match since they became world champions.
The match is taking place at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City to celebrate the North American country’s 200th anniversary of achieving independence from Spain. However, as the game is just three days before Barca faces Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup, the club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has spoken out over the “negative situation”.
He told his club’s official website that: “This has to be the first time ever that players who are still on holiday have been called up for an international game. I’m just speechless - it’s an extraordinarily negative situation, but in every sport you just have to try and get over these things”.
Logic questioned
Although Zubizarreta understood that del Bosque and the Spanish Federation are allowed to select any players they like, he questioned the logic of the decision as the Barca players have not yet begun pre-season training and will not yet be match fit. He said: “They have the right to call them up and they are important as World Cup winners, but it’s obvious what kind of state they will be in when they arrive. It’s not logical to ask them to make such a trip and such a big effort”.
The Barca players who have been named in del Bosque’s squad are: goalkeeper Victor Valdes; defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique; midfielders Xavi Hernandez, Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Busquets and striker David Villa.
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