Iniesta: Lopetegui imitates Chris Coleman by calling up unfit player
Julen Lopetegui has called up Andrés Iniesta, who missed his club's last two matches and is a doubt for their weekend clash against Sevilla in LaLiga.
Spain national team coach Julen Lopetegui has called up Andrés Iniesta for the international friendlies against Costa Rica and Russia, even though the Barcelona midfielder is injured.
See the full Spain squad here.
Iniesta injured for Athletic and Olympiacos
Iniesta, the scorer of the winning goal for La Roja in the 2010 World Cup final, did not feature for Barcelona against Athletic Club or Olympiacos after suffering a muscular strain in his upper left leg. He trained with his Barcelona colleagues on Thursday, but remains a doubt for the visit of Sevilla to Camp Nou on Saturday evening.
“We spoke with Andrés and yesterday he was training normally, apparently he’s going to be available for his team this weekend and we have opted to call him up upon knowing that he is perfectly fit,” explained Lopetegui.
The case bears certain similarities to that of Gareth Bale, who has been called up to the Wales team despite not having feature for Real Madrid for over a month.
