Understandably some players have been plagued by injury. Chelsea’s Diego Costa was left out from the team due to a hamstring injury towards the end of the Premier League season and Arsenal midfielder Cazorla missed most of the season due to knee ligament damage. Del Bosque claims the team simply can’t take the risk of selecting players that are recovering from injury.
“We’ve evaluated the situation and we didn’t want to have an overload of players who were in an uncertain situation; we preferred not to bring them,”
Another surprise exclusion is Fernando Torres who was the Adidas Golden Boot winner at the 2012 competition. Torres has not been in the best form recently but he has scored seven goals in his last 11 matches for Atletico.
Torres and Costa were not the only players snubbed for the squad, Man United’s Juan Mata and Bayern Munich midfielder Javi Martinez were also excluded.
The squad was announced on Twitter and included new caps Saúl Ñiguez from Atletico and Real Madrid’s Lucas Vázquez. 35-year-old striker Artiz Aduriz also made the squad after scoring his largest goal tally this season for Athletic Club.
OFICIAL | Lista provisional de 25 jugadores para la #EURO2016 / Provisional 25-man call up for the #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/wyMJ77Fyhe
— Selección Española (@SeFutbol) May 17, 2016