International news

Espanyol's uncapped forward Luis García has been called up to replace the injured Fernando Torres in Spain's squad for the double header against Latvia and Liechtenstein this week.

Iñaki Saéz has included 16 year old Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic in his under 21 squad, who open the 2007-2009 European qualifiers against Georgia in Tbilisi on 5th June.

Defending champions Spain are well on the way to qualifying for the under 19 European finals after winning their first two "Elite round" games.

Ginés Meléndez's side had more problems than expected seeing off Iceland in their opening match, but in they end they ran out 3-2 winners with second half strikes from Real Madrid's Adrián González and Juan Manuel Mata, who scored two including a penalty.

And in their next tie they beat Azerbaijan 4-0, Valencia's Aarón opening the scoring shortly before the break and Adrián González and Mata (2) repeating their performance against Iceland with three in the last quarter of an hour.

Spain now only need a point against hosts Norway next Monday to win through to the final round, which takes place in Austria at the end of July. (01.06.07)