Spain warmed up for a defence of their European title with a 2-0 friendly win over Serbia here on Saturday. Coach Vicente del Bosque fielded some of his fringe players with so many regular stars involved in Friday's Spanish Cup final in which Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0.
That left the door open for the likes of Atletico Madrid's Adrian Lopez to state his Euro case, and he didn't disappoint, heading the world champions into a 64th-minute lead.
This was the best possible way for Adrian, who came on as a second half substitute, to mark his first ever appearance in the national shirt.
Adrian was instrumental in Spain's second goal 11 minutes later when he earned a penalty after being felled by Serbia captain Branislav Ivanovic, with the spot kick converted by Santi Cazorla.
Serbia did have the ball in the back of the Spanish net but Dejan Lekic's effort was ruled offside.
Adrian's Atletico teammate Juanfran will have also caught del Bosque's eye as the coach puts the finishes touches to his 23-man Euro squad which he is due to announce on Sunday.
Del Bosque said: "We're not at all surprised by what the new faces brought to the game. We picked them for that.
"Now, for the final list, we have to put into perspective this one match and the way in which the players have performed throughout the season."
Goalscorer Adrian remarked: "You never imagine that you're going to score on your first cap. I don't know whether I'll make the final list, we all have the desire to be on it, it's something amazing to go to the Euros.
"Competition for a place on the Spanish team is acute, but that's good so the coach can make his choice."
Spain kick off their Group C campaign against Italy on June 10, followed by the Republic of Ireland on June 14 and wrapping up with Croatia on June 18 with all their first round games in Gdansk. Tweet Bookmark Print Badge the Comments! Give badges to the best comments you see! You will get four badges a day 0 Comments To have full access to the interactive features available in Haveeru Online please register or sign in. or Post a Comment Loading comments... Please wait
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