Two weeks away from the start of the European Championships Spain have named probably the strongest squad in the history of international football.
Coach Vicente del Bosque must be the envy of every other coach in the tournament as he named his 23 man squad drawing heavily on the players of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Despite departing from the Champions League at the semi-final stage both clubs have set the pace over the season as they chased the domestic title setting new standards in excellence.
Although neither Ronanaldo or Leo Messi are available to del Bosque both sides have an an unmistakebly Spanish outlook, or in the case of Barca a Catalan outlook.
In every area of the park Spain look spoiled for choice with eight midfielders that must make training matches something special.
Del Bosque could easily rotate his midfielders without losing any quality with Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas and Juan Mata likely to start the tournament on the bench.
Carlos Puyol and David Villa will miss the tournament through injury but doesn’t dilute the quality available to del Bosque with Spain strong favourites to retain the trophy they collected in 2008 to kick off a special run of results that saw them lift the World Cup two years later as well as picking up various under-age titles.
Adrian Lopez of Atletico Madrid scored in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Serbia but that wasn’t enough to book his place in the squad for Poland.
Del Bosque explained: “We preferred other options, but we have to say that Adrian was brilliant. The seven players who have been left out are a bit sad, but they are good sportsmen.
“It was unthinkable that a player who just had their debut would make the squad but we are keeping an eye on him.”
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina, (Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona)
Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Valencia), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)
Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), David Silva (Manchester City), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Chelsea)
Forwards: Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Pedro (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)