Celta Vigo forward Nolito strengthened his case for inclusion in Spain coach Vicente del Bosque’s squad for Euro 2016 with his first two international goals in a 3-1 friendly win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Saint Gallen, Switzerland, on Sunday.
Del Bosque named an experimental side with no players from Champions League finalists Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid or those sides involved in domestic Cup finalslast weekend, including Barcelona andBayern Munich, other than out of favour Barca defender Marc Bartra.
Nolito has been included in Del Bosque’s provisional 25-man squad – which will be trimmed to a definitive list of 23 today – after leading Celta to Europa League qualification with 12 goals this season.
And it would be a huge surprise if the former Barcelona man is now cut from the squad as he curled expertly into the far coner before delightfully chipping Bosnia’s Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to make it 2-0 after just 18 minutes.
The 29-year-old, making his seventh international appearance, scored twice in the friendly in St Gallen, Switzerland.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will name his final squad today.
“I try to do the best I can just as I do in my club. I have the confidence of the coach. We know that in this national team there is a very high level but dreaming is free and we will see who ends up making the final squad,” Nolito told the Spanish football federation website.
Hamburg defender Emir Spahic halved Bosnia’s deficit when he headed home from a corner just before the half hour mark. However, Spahic then got himself needlessly sent-off just before half-time when he clashed with Cesar Azpilicueta.
Having named three debutants in goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and Real Madrid midfielder Marco Asensio in his starting line-up, Del Bosque handed four more youngsters their international debuts in the second-half. However, it was one of the old guard in Chelsea forward Pedro Rodriguez who added the third deep into stoppage time.
Spain have two more warm-up friendlies against South Korea in Salzburg, Austria, tomorrow and Georgia in Madrid on June 7 before they begin their defence of the European Championships against the Czech Republic in Toulouse on June 13.
Later, Turkey had to sweat and suffer to score a late 1-0 win over minnows Montenegro on a late goal from Mehmet Topal.
“We did not play really well tonight, I have to admit that. But the important thing is that we’re patient, and we won in the end,” Turkey’s veteran playmaker Arda Turan said.

Spain’s preparations hampered by absence of Madrid-based players
Spain’s veteran coach Vicente del Bosque is preparing for Euro 2016 - but he can still not count on the players from Atletico and Real Madrid.
The Madrid-based players are recovering from their gruelling clash in Saturday’s Champions League final in Milan Saturday, in which Real prevailed 5-3 on penalties after a bruising, intense 1-1 draw.
These players will be absent from Wednesday’s game against South Korea as they don’t join the squad until June 4, just six days before the tournament in France kicks off. Del Bosque, therefore, will be the last of the 24 coaches at Euro 2016 to have all his players available.
“This situation is obviously not ideal,” Del Bosque said after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Swiss town of St Gallen.
“But this is what we have. It is good that Spanish teams reach the European finals, but it does complicate our preparations to a certain extent.”
Against Bosnia, Del Bosque was forced to beef up his thin squad with several youngsters from the Spain Under-21 team, eight of whom were given their full international debuts.
Del Bosque has blooded 68 new players since taking over the Spain job in 2008.
“The youngsters did very well today, they helped us out in a difficult situation caused by the absence of many players,” said the veteran manager, who is planning to retire after Euro 2016.
Del Bosque singled out right-back Hector Bellerin for special praise, and the Arsenal rookie actually stands a chance of snatching a place in the final squad of 23 – which has to be submitted by midnight Tuesday – given that Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal suffered an untimely thigh injury in the Champions League final.
“It was wonderful to make my international debut,” said Bellerin, 21.
“I felt very comfortable and I was not nervous at all.” The friendly against South Korea will be played in the Austrian city of Salzburg, close to Spain’s pre-Euro training camp at Schruns.
Leading the attack for La Roja will be Celta Vigo striker Nolito, who scored twice against Bosnia.
Spain have bad memories of South Korea because of a controversial defeat against the Asian co-hosts in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup.
After the match, Del Bosque’s squad will return to Spain to prepare for their final tune-up game, against minnows Georgia in Getafe on June 7.
Spain are bidding to become the first country to win three straight Euros, following on from their triumphs in 2008 and 2012.