Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos has been left out of Spain's squad for the Euro 2020, it was confirmed on Monday.
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Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos has been left out of Spain’s squad for the Euro 2020, it was confirmed on Monday. Spain manager Luis Enrique announced a squad featuring a mix of young and old players. Barcelona starlet Pedri made the final cut, as did RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo. Another notable inclusion was Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte. The French defender only recently became eligible to play for Spain but has been selected at the expense of Ramos.
Interestingly, Spain have named only 24 players in their squad. UEFA had allowed teams to select up to 26 players owing to a packed domestic schedule this year.
The exclusion of Ramos, however, is set to be a talking point for the days to come. It is true that the veteran defender hasn’t featured in too many matches this calendar year.
However, his experience and big-game pedigree would be useful to this Spain side. That he is the national team captain makes the move even more surprising.
There’s also the fact that this Spain squad contains no player from Real Madrid. This is despite the likes of Nacho, Dani Carvajal and the aforementioned Ramos doing well for Los Blancos this season.
Enrique said the decision was down to the skipper’s lack of match fitness.
“Any decision I made about Sergio Ramos would have been controversial,” Enrique told the media afterwards.
“I know where I am, and accept there will be noise from the media. The Aymeric Laporte decision has nothing to do with the Ramos situation. (Ramos) is a top player, can help our national team a lot, plays at one of the best clubs in history.
“Please don’t mix Ramos not being in the squad with call-ups for others. I’d have liked him to be here, to have recovered.”
It will be interesting to see how the Madrid media react to this particular development. Especially since current Spain manager Enrique’s Barcelona association – lest we forget, he won them a treble as a manager.
Indeed, Enrique is the first Spain manager to name a squad for a major tournament that has no Real Madrid players. However, he defended his decision.
“It is possible as players like Dani Carvajal and Sergio Ramos (had) injuries during the season. Apart from that I cannot pick the squad based on whether some people will be happy or not.”
Goalkeepers: David De Gea, Unai Simon, Robert Sanchez
Defenders: Aymeric Laporte, Jordi Alba, Jose Gaya, Pau Torres, Eric Garcia, Diego Llorente, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Llorente
Midfielders: Sergio Busquets, Rodri, Pedri, Thiago, Koke, Fabian
Forwards: Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal, Alvaro Morata, Gerard Moreno, Ferran Torres, Adama Traore, Pablo Sarabia
