Spain defender Raul Abiol admits Vicente del Bosque’s squad is short on centre-backs but believes there are sufficient numbers to cope.
Central defence is an area Del Bosque has expressed his concerns about in the past, although Albiol seems certain of a place in the starting line-up for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovakia, due to Sergio Ramos’ withdrawal through injury.
“The issue surrounding central defence goes in stages, yet although we don’t have an abundance of centre-backs we have enough good ones to perform well for the national team.
“Right now in Spain we are living through an era of many midfielders and not so many central defenders, but it’s not a subject we need to worry about,” the Napoli man told a Press conference.
The former Real Madrid player had praise for Sergio Ramos, his former teammate at the Santiago Bernabeu, who has been ruled out of the Slovakia game through a calf injury.
“Ramos is a very important player for us, but if there is something this team has shown it is that it has great players who can come in and play well to get a win anywhere,” said Albiol, who will be up against Napoli colleague Marek Hamsik on Thursday.
“Ever since the draw was made we’ve joked with each other about this match. Marek is a good player who we will need to watch very carefully.
“In the last few days we’ve been exchanging the usual banter,” he disclosed.