Del Bosque happy to call on Barca

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque says he will not hesitate to call up 14 Barcelona players if he deems it in the national team’s interests.

Del Bosque included eight Barca players in his squad for the friendly against Panama last month, and he has insisted several more Barca players could make the cut in the not too distant future.

“We took eight Barcelona players to Panama and (Carles) Puyol, (Gerard) Pique, Xavi (Hernandez) and Thiago (Alcantara) were all missing,” Del Bosque was quoted as saying by Marca.

“(Cristian) Tello, who is one step away, wasn’t there either. And look how (Gerard) Deulofeu is coming on. If we need to call up 14 Barcelona players one day because they deserve it, we will not hesitate to do just that.

“However, Real Madrid also have a strong base of national players at the moment.”

From the Real team, Iker Casillas, Alvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso are regulars in the Spain squad.