The generation change in the Spanish national team is in full swing: Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique are unlikely to be in the final World Cup squad.
The generation change at is in full swing: Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique are unlikely to be in the final squad.
Pique has not played for his country since losing to Russia in the round of 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and Ramos has not played since early last year.
Nevertheless, both defenders are in Luis Enrique’s 55-man provisional World Cup squad. There are quite a few who believe the manager could take at least one of them to give the fairly young squad some experience. Ramos in particular would have a good chance of doing this after showing stable performances at PSG lately.
According to data from mark however, neither of the two veterans will make the final selection as both are among the unlucky 29 players to be dropped from the roster.
The Spanish newspaper report that Enrique doesn’t want a player to be the center of attention or even challenge his authority – so he’s likely to leave Pique and Ramos at home.
Instead, Eric Garcia, Aymeric Laporte, Inigo Martinez and Pau Torres will travel to the World Cup as centre-backs, with the former two likely to start.
Ramos could be an option should any of those players get injured – while Pique’s chances are much worse as he hasn’t played much for FC Barcelona this season and hasn’t been able to impress when he’s on the pitch. Even Diego Llorente and Hugo Guillamon are arguably ahead of the Barça legend in the Furia Roja rankings.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
