Diego Costa out, Juanmi included in Spain squad


Madrid, March 24 (IANS): Spain football team coach Vicente del Bosque has called Malaga striker Juan Miguel Jimenez Lopez, better known as 'Juanmi', into his squad for the forthcoming matches against Ukraine and the Netherlands.

Juanmi got the call on Monday after Chelsea striker Diego Costa suffered an Achilles tendon injury during his side's game against Hull City on Sunday afternoon, reports Xinhua.

Following that game, Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said Costa had a long standing problem with his tendon and would probably be unavailable for Friday's Euro 2016 qualifying game in Seville and next week's friendly against the Dutch.

The 21-year-old Juanmi has scored seven goals in 24 appearances for Malaga this season and is one of the club's rising stars after making his first team debut aged just 16 years old.

"It's not just for me, this call up is recognition for the excellent season my club is having," he said in the Spanish press after being informed of Del Bosque's decision.

Most had expected Del Bosque to call Valencia forward Paco Alcacer into his squad, especially as Alcacer has scored twice in his last two matches. He seems to have recaptured the form which earned him a call up at the start of the campaign.

  

Top Stories


Leave a Comment

Title: Diego Costa out, Juanmi included in Spain squad



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.