Mario Suarez is thrilled with his first call-up to the Spain national squad, replacing the injured Xabi Alonso, whilst Xavi Hernandez also drops out.
Real Madrid’s Alonso pulled out of the squad over the weekend after suffering a groin injury, whilst Xavi is also ruled out of the trip to Qatar to face Uruguay after tightening his hamstring during Barcelona’s draw at Valencia.
Atletico Madrid’s Mario Suarez was called up as a replacement for Alonso, but it is not yet known if Del Bosque will substitute for Xavi’s absence as well.
For Suarez, the call-up capped a fine day, in which he also returned to the Atletico starting line-up for their 1-0 win over Real Betis on Sunday.
“It was a good day for me. First for having the confidence from Del Bosque, which I am grateful for, even though I have nothing on Xabi Alonso,” reflected the midfielder.
Suarez has endured a more frustrating second half to the season under Diego Simeone, playing fewer times in the first team than he did in the first half of the campaign.
“The Coach has said that he will rotate, until December I played everything and now I play less, but I’ve been starting in the Cup. The thing is to work every day.
“We have to keep looking on a day to day basis and we’ll see where we end up in May. We knew the day’s results favoured us and we went out to do our best.”
