Vicente Del Bosque named his provisional 25-man Spain squad for Euro 2016 on Tuesday, and there were several notable absentees.
The Spanish tactician has had a tough time selecting his respective squads for major tournaments for almost a decade now, such has been the quality of players in Spain.
Despite the likes of Carles Puyol, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and David Villa amongst others walking away from the international scene in recent years, there are countless others who remain in contention and will feel aggrieved not to be participating in France this summer.
Diego Costa’s injury woes have likely cost him a spot in the final squad, while top goalscorer in qualifying, Paco Alcacer, hasn’t been included either.
Fernando Torres has been in impressive form in recent weeks, but not even his revival at Atletico Madrid is enough to see him return to the fold, while Juan Mata also drops out despite figuring in Del Bosque’s plans previously.
The exclusion of Santi Cazorla is perhaps more understandable given his lack of playing time this season, but there are still several others who will argue that they did more than enough this year to warrant a place in the final 23-man squad.
However, the XI below will miss out, and it shows just how talented the current group of Spanish players is that they can afford to leave them at home while the likes of Fabian Delph and Andros Townsend have been deemed good enough to make Roy Hodgson’s provisional England squad.
Bastian Schweinsteiger’s inclusion for Germany despite his injury problems shows how much reliance is placed on certain individuals elsewhere, but Spain have no need to worry about that when they have so many talented options at their disposal.
Nevertheless, having all that talent will be irrelevant if it doesn’t result in a successful defence of their European crown this summer, as they will want to put their memories of Brazil two years ago firmly behind them and get back to winning ways.
However, this star-studded XI will likely not be playing any part of their bid:
