Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 10y

Vicente del Bosque reassures Gerard Pique over Spain place

Vicente del Bosque has played down questions over Gerard Pique's commitment to Spain, saying the Barcelona centre-back will be included in his next squad if he is fit.

- Euro 2016 Qualifying: What we've learned from the first round

Pique, 27, asked to be left out of Spain's two most recent games because of a long-standing hip problem, but played in Barcelona's 1-0 win at Villarreal just before the international break.

That led to criticism that the Catalan defender -- who won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 with La Roja but was dropped during the disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign -- did not see playing for Spain as a priority.

However, Del Bosque told Radio Marca he had no doubts about Pique's commitment and expected to count on him for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia next month.

"[Pique] is just as committed, or more, than the others," he said. "If he is fit, he will be in the next squad."

Diego Costa was another player criticised in some quarters for pulling out of the Spain squad with a minor injury after returning to Chelsea with a hamstring problem following an unimpressive showing in Spain's 1-0 friendly defeat in France last week.

Del Bosque said he was confident that Brazil-born Costa, who has now not scored in his first five caps for his adopted country, would eventually come good for Spain.

"I am sure that if he had been in the team yesterday he would have performed," he said. "If he has done it at Atletico, and is doing it at Chelsea, why would he not do it here with us?"

Del Bosque revealed that Pique's usual centre-back partner Sergio Ramos, who opened the scoring in Monday's 5-1 qualifier win at home to Macedonia with a Panenka penalty, had not been supposed to take the kick.

"[Assistant coach] Toni Grande had given the order of takers, and Cesc [Fabregas] was first," he said. "There was a little debate between them, but it was not important."

^ Back to Top ^