Kepa Arrizabalaga added to Spain’s standby list

 

Kepa Arrizabalaga has been added to Spain’s standby list of players who could find a place in the final squad. Sergio Busquets, the current Spanish captain, contracted the corona virus a few days ago, due to which the Spanish Football Federation have been drafting players into a standby list.

Apart from the Chelsea goalkeeper, Pablo Fornals of West Ham, Carlos Soler of Valencia, Brais Mendez of Celta Vigo and Raul Albiol from Villareal have also been included. These players are reportedly training in a bio bubble parallel to the main Spain squad.

“Kepa will land this afternoon in Madrid and will join training tomorrow,” the federation said.

“The rest of the players will begin to exercise today at 11:00 (local time) in Las Rozas under the command of Luis Enrique,” it said.

Kepa had a decent season individually. After starting his Chelsea career on a bad note, the world’s costliest goalkeeper struggled to find his feet under both Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard. Thomas Tuchel was able to get the best out of him as the Spanish shot stopper impressed football fans during the second half of the recently concluded campaign.

The squad will be given coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, Spain’s Minister for Education, Culture and Sport Manuel Rodriguez Uribes said later.

Spain have had multiple issues during the build-up to the Euros. Firstly, captain Sergio Ramos wasn’t picked to the squad which also didn’t include the likes of Iago Aspas, Nacho Fernandez or Lucas Vasquez. Secondly, their captain Sergio Busquets tested positive for COVID 19 which has forced all their players to go under isolation.

And finally, Spain were not able to warm up properly for the tournament as they had to field their U-21 side against Lithuania yesterday. Spain still managed to beat Lithuania 4-0, which shows how talented their youth setup is.

Their first Euro 2020 match is against Sweden on 14 June and Enrique has until Saturday to make changes to his squad ahead of their opening fixture in Seville. They are expected to easily progress to the next round.