Vicente Del Bosque: "I have no reason to doubt De Gea"

Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has said that he is inclined to believe David de Gea after the Manchester United keeper was accused of involvement in a case of alleged sexual abuse along with Iker Muniain on the opening day of Euro 2016. Speaking to both national broadcaster TVE and the Cope radio network, Del Bosque said that the squad had given De Gea their support after the accusation emerged on Friday.

Will De Gea start at the Euros?

Torbe case: “I haven’t got much to add to what he said in his appearance in front of the press. He was firm in his denial. We got the squad together so that they were made aware of the matter and he was calm about it, and we gave him all of our support.”

Do you believe him? “I have no reason to doubt him. It was him who wanted to discuss the matter with us. We had a team meeting. He told us more or less what he said in the press conference. He was relaxed and completely credible.”

Will he start? “We’ll have a look at it in the way that we need to and nothing more than that. In the sporting sense, we have to be sure. We’ll have a look at the situation but we would have done so anyway despite what happened this afternoon.”

Did everybody back him? “Everybody, without exception. The team captains, the younger players… at the end of the day we’re all equal and we gave him our support and affection. The way he told us about it and his face when he told us about was perfectly natural. He explained clearly that he has nothing to do with this matter. We’re not here to judge him. It came as a surprise, then we waited for the lad to explain himself, which he did completely naturally. He gave the impression of a lad who hasn’t done anything wrong. I have to believe him.”

Was his press conference a good idea? “The press conference was scheduled, he was the first person to say he wanted to go out there and explain everything.”

How is he training? “Well, as always. He was very relaxed.”