Luis Enrique: "Being drawn with Germany would have kept us on our toes"
Spain coach warned that Euro 2020 group rivals Sweden and Norway are "top level teams" and added he will need to whittle down his squad.
Luis Enrique attended the Spanish this afternoon to give his thoughts on today's EURO 2020 qualifiers draw in which Spain landed in Group F along with Sweden, Norway, Romania, the Faroe Islands and Malta.
Group rivals: "Sweden and Norway are very good national teams who play to a high level and who are very strong at home. Then we have the matter of the weather and the travelling - we'll have some long journeys. Two teams will classify from each group and our objective is to be one of the teams that go through. But no one should think that because we are one of the seeded teams, we are going to breeze through the qualifying round".
Germany would have been nice
The rest of the draw: "It would have been nice to have been drawn with Germany - that would have kept us on our toes and fall into the trap of being excessively confidence. I'm not saying that to make a big statement, I mentioned it in passing to Luis Rubiales before the draw and I still feel that way. I wouldn't have minded at all if Germany had landed in our group"
Which players to call, who to leave out: "That's a good point - I used 32 players in total in the Nations League. That's a lot of players. I'll have to whittle the squad down, but I could still call someone new for the first time because making the squad lists is directly proportional to the momentof form players are in at the time. Spain's national team is in a transitional period. We've had a look at over 30 players, but that's what the casting process involves. I'm sure other players will be called up at some point during the qualifying stage because like I say, it's all about choosing the players who are showing the best form".
Players' form oscillates
Isco's situation: "I'm not going to talk about Isco because I respect the work my colleagues do. The only thing I will say, is in general terms, all players go through good and bad periods over the course of a season. It's better for players to be playing for their teams but even that doesn't guarantee that they will be called up for international duty - it's important to be playing, but not decisive".
De Gea's situation: "I'm not going to say anything about De Gea either. Generally speaking, elite players should be able to handle criticism - good and bad criticism. It's part of being at the top of your profession, and they should be used to receiving positive criticism at times, and not so favourable criticism at other times".
Tough group: "Our group is anything but easy, I hope no one thinks it is. We'll see surprises in all of the groups - as every professional will know".
