For the first time in history, Spain will go to the World Cup without any Real Madrid players among their ranks. Luis de la Fuente named his Spain squad on Monday, but none of the eligible Real Madrid options made it in.
La Roja’s 26 players are nearly made up of a third of Barcelona players in contrast, but there were few candidates for de la Fuente to choose from at the Santiago Bernabeu. Dani Ceballos, Raul Asencio and Dani Carvajal have just one cap between them in the past 18 months, while Thiago Pitarch and Fran Garcia were not in consideration. The player who was closest was Gonzalo Garcia, who is in the ‘support squad’ of nine players that will begin the training camp with La Roja before they travel for their last friendly against Peru in Mexico. The headline absence was undoubtedly Dean Huijsen though.
Huijsen responds to Spain squad omission
Once it became clear that Carvajal would not be making a return to the Spain squad, Huijsen seemed like the only player with a real chance of making it in, having earned seven caps since over the past 18 months. Yet the strong form of Marc Pubill and Eric Garcia earned them a spot ahead of Huijsen alongside regulars Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi.
Something which has not gone down well with the Real Madrid star. The 21-year-old posted on his Instagram story a picture of the Sofascore Team of the Season, in which Cubarsi and Garcia also appear.
De la Fuente’s selection process
Since Euro 2024, de la Fuente has generally been loyal to the players that secured victory in Germany. That said, centre-back is one of the positions that has seen the most change, with both Robin Le Normand, a starter in the Euro 2024 final, and Dani Vivian left out. Nacho Fernandez has not been in the Spain squad since.
While Garcia and Pubill have been among the best performers for their respective sides, while Cubarsi has been a fixture for de la Fuente since the Euros. Laporte’s experience is likely considered keen, while Huijsen struggled to retain his starting spot in the second half of the year. For his part, de la Fuente explained that he had the majority of the squad decided for the past few months.
