Veteran Athletic Bilbao striker Aritz Aduriz has been rewarded for his stunning form at the age of 35 with his first call-up to the Spain squad for six years as Chelsea’s Diego Costa was dropped yesterday.
Coach Vicente del Bosque named a 25-man squad for Spain’s final two friendlies away to Italy on March 24 and Romania four days later before he names his final squad for Euro 2016.
Aduriz’s 31st goal of the season booked Athletic’s place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday at the expense of Gary Neville’s Valencia.
“I have to say he is in because there has been widespread calls for him to be included, but also because he deserves it,” Del Bosque said of Aduriz. “He is playing well, scoring lots of goals and he is a centre-forward that we all like.”
Costa has finally paid for his poor form at international level, where he has scored just once in 10 games for Spain since switching his allegiances to the European champions from Brazil before the 2014 World Cup.
His controversial clash with Everton’s Gareth Barry last weekend for which the striker was charged for improper conduct by the English FA after being sent-off was also met with widespread condemnation in Spain.
However, Del Bosque highlighted an injury Costa suffered as Chelsea bowed out of the Champions League last week as the principal reason for him not being included.
“It is principally for health reasons. In the game on the ninth he went off with a quadriceps injury, he pushed himself to play four days later and ended up a bit sore.
“Diego has been playing well the past two months and we are counting on him. There are still two months to take a decision (for the Euros). Then there is the disciplinary aspect and it’s clear we want everyone to behave well, but the situation he had with Barry wasn’t very serious.”
Barcelona’s Sergi Roberto was handed his first call-up to the senior Spanish side, but club teammate Andres Iniesta was left out to due to a minor muscle problem.
Real Madrid’s Nacho and Barcelona’s Marc Bartra retain their places as back-up to club teammates Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique in central defence despite a lack of playing time at club level. Madrid’s Dani Carvajal misses out to Villarreal’s Mario Gaspar as Juanfran’s understudy at right-back.
And Pedro Rodriguez, Paco Alcacer, Nolito and Alvaro Morata are all included alongside Aduriz amongst the strikers despite their lack of goalscoring form at club level.

Belgium without Hazard, Kompany,
De Bruyne for Portugal friendly
Belgian coach Marc Wilmots, hit by a series of injury woes, yesterday named a depleted 23-man squad for a friendly against Portugal in Brussels on March 29.
Captain Vincent Kompany has been ruled out with a torn calf muscle which will keep the defender sidelined “for five to eight weeks”.
Wilmots remains confident nevertheless that Manchester City skipper Kompany will be available for Euro 2016. “I spoke to Vincent. I heard someone very determined to recover from this latest blow,” said the coach.
Midfielders Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard are also out with a knee and hip injury respectively along with defender Jan Vertonghen. But Hazard’s younger brother Thorgan has been called up after impressing with Bundesliga side Borussia Moenchengladbach. Wilmots has also called up Nantes midfielder Guillaume Gillet, along with Marseille striker Mitchy Batshuayi.
World number one team Belgium are drawn in Group E along with Italy, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden in Euro 2016.

Germany call up defender Tah for friendlies against England, Italy
Germany coach Joachim Loew has called up Jonathan Tah for the first time for friendly matches against England and Italy. The 20-year-old Bayer Leverkusen defender is part of a 27-man squad which also includes midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze following injury and veteran striker Mario Gomez. Dortmund defender Ilkay Guendogan is not selected because of injury.
Loew said he had nominated Tah because he wanted another option in central defence following injuries to central defenders Jerome Boateng and Benedikt Hoewedes. “We have been observing Tah for some time and are eager to see how he fits into the squad,” Loew said.
Loew has not chosen youngsters Leroy Sane (Schalke), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern) or Mitchell Weiser (Hertha Berlin) who will stay in the Under-21 squad for European Championship qualifiers. Germany are playing England in Berlin on March 26, and Italy three days later in Munich.