Vicente Del Bosque believes Diego Costa has been unfairly judged, while Aritz Aduriz was called to Spain ‘on merit, not pressure.’
Costa wasn’t named in the national team squad for friendlies against Romania and Italy with the suggestion that a disciplinary issue from an altercation with Everton’s Gareth Barry was the reason, something disputed by the Coach.
“From what I’ve seen, they have demonised Costa a lot and maybe that’s why [there are some who don’t want him in the squad] but the last episode isn’t so serious, honestly,” Del Bosque told Mundo Deportivo.
“He was putting in effort to play because it was Chelsea’s last chance to get something and he plays with great excitement.
“That’s a good part of his approach. He also has other things that are bad, but I don’t want either to change.
“If we called him it’s because we already know him, but I don’t like that he does ugly things, but the other day wasn’t like that.”
Athletic Bilbao striker Aduriz was named in the squad after a prolific season at the age of 35 led to a campaign for his inclusion, but Del Bosque insists he wasn’t swayed by the pressure.
“We didn’t bring him because of the pressure, but on merit,” he stressed.
“When we went out the World Cup in Brazil we made our projections for the future and everything went through Paco Alcacer, Diego Costa and Alvaro Morata.
“They were the three strikers we planned on but Aduriz has joined them by merit and because he is playing well.”
The squad named for the upcoming friendlies is the last prior to Euro 2016 and Del Bosque was asked if he expects many changes to the group between now and the summer tournament.
“I imagine [the tournament squad] will have quite a few of those who are there now, but I don’t think it will be exactly the same,” he confirmed.
“There’s two months ahead and there can be changes or injuries or some of those who are injured now could recover, like Santi Cazorla, Vitolo, Andres Iniesta, Costa.”
