Asier Illarramendi, Spain's fourth debutant of the Lopetegui era
The Real Sociedad midfielder made the Spain squad list in March but injury delayed his debut. Saúl, Aspas and Ander Herrera gained their first cap under Lopetegui.
Asier Illarramendi made his full international debut with Spain's senior side on Wednesday night as La Roja scraped a 2-2 draw against Colombia in a friendly at the Nueva Condomina in Murcia. The Real Sociedad midfielder is the fourth player top be handed his first cap for Spain under Julen Lopetegui and he did so wearing the No.14 shirt which he has inherited from former Txuri-urdin, Xabi Alonso.
Illarra makes Spain debut wearing Xabi Alonso's old No.14 shirt
The former Real Madrid player was one of the new additions to Lopetegui's squad list for the meting with France back in March. However, Illarra was forced to quit the Spain camp before getting the chance to make his debut appearances after suffering a muscular injury.
Now Illarra, who has represented his country at every youth level and was part of the Under-21 team which were crowned European champions in Israel in 2013, has achieved the dream of every professional footballer. Since taking the reins of the national team last September, Lopetegui has handed four players their first senior caps: Ander Herrera and Iago Aspas against England, and Saúl against Belgium.
