"Definitive list for EURO 2016 will be similar to this one"

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque gave an indirect hint as to which 23 players he will be taking to France for this summer's EURO 2016. Next week, Del Bosque will announce his squad for this month's friendlies against Italy and Romania, and today, he revealed that it will be "similar to the definitive list" for the Euros. The coach is confident that he will be able to count on Diego Costa, who limped out of Wednesday's Champions League tie between Chelsea and PSG.

"We'll be announcing the list for these two friendlies and and while those included won't definitely be at EURO 2016, the list will be a close approximation of the squad who will be representing us in France", Del Bosque told reporters in Valladolid, where he picked up an award from Castilla y León Catholic Schools.

He also affirmed that RFEF doctors "are in contact" with Diego Costa, whose injury "doesn't look serious. We'll see if he can come along with us for the friendlies. He's playing well with his team and he's a very important player for us".

As for David de Gea, who was in action last night against Liverpool, Del Bosque said "There's plenty of time ahead to decide who will be the first choice keeper. We've always said that we count on him and it makes us happy when all of the players who are called up are in good form; he had a great game against Liverpool".

Del Bosque added that he has no problem with players using the Periscope app, as popularized by Gerard Piqué: "Perhaps some UEFA ruling might no allow such things but we've always been fairly liveral and the use of social networking media has never had any negative effects on the communal habits of our national team", he said.