Laporte set to miss Spain Euro opener due to muscle discomfort

Luis de la Fuente's choice of centre-back pairing for the debut against Croatia at the European Championship is one of the possible doubts for Spain's opening game. What is more likely is that he will opt for Nacho Fernandez and Robin Le Normand, as Aymeric Laporte is suffering from muscular discomfort which has kept him out of the squad, as reported by Helena Condis on the 'COPE' channel.

His problems emerged on Thursday, but he is expected to be part of the travelling squad that, at 17:30 CEST on Friday, will travel to Berlin for the clash with Coatia. While waiting for the trip, the former Manchester City player will do specific recovery work.

The French-born player arrived later than planned to the 'La Roja' training camp for the Saudi King's Cup final, in which he did not take part because he was suspended after receiving a straight red card in the Suadi Pro League against Al Riyad a few days earlier. Even so, he asked the RFEF for permission to stay in the Middle East because of the importance to his club of a match that was lost on penalties to Al Hilal.

Luis de la Fuente showed that he has in mind a likely starting XI with Aymeric Laporte when he brought him on for the second half of the friendly against Northern Ireland. By then, an experienced line-up of Nacho Fernandez and Robin Le Normand had not been at their best despite the fact that the national team were running riot as Daniel Ballard, in 1 minute and 10 seconds, opened the scoring for the visitors.

 

June 13, 2024