International Matches

Camacho named his 18 man squad for next Wednesday's friendly in Croatia, keeping mainly to the block of players he chose for the last friendly against Poland a month ago. Injuries to Raúl, Guardiola and Luis Cembranos mean that they are left out, with Deportivo's captain Fran returning to the squad after a couple of years on the sidelines, and Valladolid's on form striker Víctor being called up for the first time. Víctor's inclusion was a bit of a surprise, with names of other strikers such as Málaga's Catanha, recently given a Spanish passport, and Alfonso of Betis being favoured by the local press, but his hat-trick against leaders Deportivo a few days ago catapulted him in to the spotlight. Real Madrid's Morientes would probably have been recalled as well, but he picked up another injury this week, as did Sergi, who will probably be out for several weeks and may miss the Euro 2000 competition altogether. There is still no place for Valencia keeper Cañizares, first choice at the start of the season before a long injury, although he should return once he has a few league games under his belt. Following the controversy surrounding the selection of Real Madrid players for the last match at the same time as they were playing a postponed match against Betis, Madrid's game against Valladolid, scheduled for the day before this game, was brought forward by a week. Camacho was right to insist on this, as there would most certainly have been an uproar given that he has only selected one Madrid player (Hierro), and he called up a Valladolid player (Víctor) for the first time. The full squad is as follows:

Keepers: Molina (Atlético de Madrid), Juanmi (Zaragoza)

Defenders: Abelardo (Barcelona), Velasco (Celta), Romero (Deportivo), Aranzábal (Real Sociedad), Hierro (Real Madrid), Paco (Zaragoza)

Midfield: Valerón (Atlético de Madrid), Luis Enrique (Barcelona), Fran (Deportivo), Engonga (Mallorca), Mendieta (Valencia)

Forwards: Etxeberria and Urzaiz (Athletic Bilbao), Munitis and Salva (Racing), Víctor (Valladolid).

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