Luis Enrique’s La Roja ready for Italy: “We must think that we can be the first ones to beat them”

Luis Enrique has named his 23-man La Roja squad for the Final Four of the Nations League. Spain face Italy on October 6th in the semi-final, a re-run of the Euro 2020 semi-final that Italy won on penalties. Roberto Mancini’s men went on to beat England in the final at Wembley Stadium to win the competition outright.

Luis Enrique selected the following for the international break: Unai Simon, David de Gea, Robert Sanchez; Pedro Porro, Cesar Azpilicueta, Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia, Inigo Martinez, Pau Torres, Sergio Reguilon, Marcos Alonso; Rodri, Sergio Busquets, Pedri, Gavi, Koke, Mikel Merino, Marcos Llorente; Yeremi Pino, Ferran Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal, Pablo Fornals and Pablo Sarabia.

The headline inclusion is Gavi. The 17-year-old Andalusian playmaker has played just 288 minutes of first-team football for Barcelona, but has shown Luis Enrique enough to warrant a place in his 23-man roster. The Asturian has also decided against including a conventional centre-forward in his squad.

“Italy are at a peak moment,” Luis Enrique said of this coming Wednesday’s opponents. “They were well-deserved champions of Europe, and I think they’ve broken the world record for matches without losing. This game will hold a special fascination. We must think that we can be the first ones to beat them.”

Tags La Roja Luis Enrique
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