Spanish international squads

Luis Aragonés named his first squad since taking over from Iñaki Sáez in the summer, with six new faces amongst the 22 players called up for the friendly international against Venezuela in Las Palmas next Wednesday. The veteran manager gives Basque full backs Del Horno and López Rekarte their first caps, and also recalls Reyes, Tamudo, Romero and Víctor. The most surprising omission compared to the Euro 2004 squad was that of Etxeberría, but there is no place either for Luque, Xavi, Raúl Bravo, Capdevila, César, Gabri and Aranzubia.

The full squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Casillas (Real Madrid), Cañizares (Valencia);
Defenders: Del Horno (Athletic Bilbao), Puyol (Barcelona), Juanito (Betis), Romero (Deportivo), Iván Helguera and Michel Salgado (Real Madrid), López Rekarte (Real Sociedad), Marchena (Valencia);
Midfielders: Joaquín (Betis), Valerón and Víctor (Deportivo), Xabi Alonso (Real Sociedad), Albelda, Baraja and Vicente (Valencia);
Forwards: Reyes (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Atlético Madrid), Tamudo (Espanyol), Morientes and Raúl (Real Madrid).

Iñaki Sáez meanwhile made his first selection since returning to his old job as youth team manager, with 19 players called up for the friendly against France in La Rochelle on Tuesday. Arsenal's 17 year old midfielder Cesc Fábregas makes the leap to the under 21 level for the first time, together with three young players from Sevilla's B team, Sergio Ramos, Jesús Navas and Antonio Puerta.

Under 21 squad:

Goalkeepers: Riesgo (Eibar), Moyà (Mallorca);
Defenders: Murillo and Solabarrieta (Athletic Bilbao), Peña (Barcelona), Melli (Betis), Jarque (Espanyol), Iván Ramis (Mallorca), Sergio Ramos (Sevilla);
Midfielders: Cesc (Arsenal), Gabi (Atlético Madrid), Iniesta (Barcelona), Xabi Prieto (Real Sociedad), Jesús Navas and Puerta (Sevilla), Vitolo (Tenerife);
Forwards: Arizmendi (Atlético Madrid), Sergio García (Barcelona), Jonathan (Racing).

Both the under 21 and the full international sides will be playing friendly games against Scotland early next month before their respective championships get under way, the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches for "La Selección" and the Euro 2006 preliminary stage for the youngsters. (12.08.04)