A decision on whether David Silva faces England will be left until Tuesday afternoon, after he was forced to train alone on Monday night.
Spain’s players prepared at one end of the pitch at Wembley while the Manchester City midfielder, wearing trainers rather than boots, was at the other end jogging with a physiotherapist. Silva had a problem with a toe after he had been trodden on and medical staff preferred him not to wear boots. The final decision will depend on his progress overnight and while there are doubts over his presence on Tuesday night, he has not been ruled out. City face Crystal Palace away at the weekend.
The Spain coach, Julen Lopetegui, had said before the session that he had doubts about his lineup just 48 hours after their 4-0 victory over Macedonia in Granada. “We have to see how the players are; we have to see that ‘final photo’ to make the decision [on the team],” Lopetegui said. “We have an idea but we don’t know.”
The expectation was already for it to be a changed side, an opportunity to give minutes to players who have not yet had them, including debuts for Manchester United’s Ander Herrera and possibly, from the bench, for the former Liverpool striker Iago Aspas. Silva’s condition makes the inclusion of Juan Mata or Isco from the start more likely. Pepe Reina is in line for an opportunity in goal. “Whoever plays it will be a competitive side,” Lopetegui said.
Aritz Aduriz is expected to start up front, completing an astonishing 10-day period for the Athletic Bilbao striker. He became the first Spaniard to score five goals in a game for half a century in Athletic’s 5-3 win over Genk on the same night that he became a father for the second time. He then came on as a substitute and scored for Spain against Macedonia – aged 35 years 275 days. That saw him break José María Peña’s Spanish record, which had stood since 1930.
It was only Aduriz’s second goal for his country, having gone almost six years without a call-up between his first cap in October 2010 and his return in February 2016, after his goalscoring record improved following his 30th birthday. Although he went to Euro 2016, Aduriz did not make Lopetegui’s first squad but was called up for these two fixtures. The Spain manager called him an “example”.
“This is a friendly but as soon as the referee blows the start of the game, that’s history. We’ll go out there to try to win,” said the Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal, who scored his first Spain goal against Macedonia. It is a game that Spain’s players have been keen to take part in. When they joined the national team’s training camp in Las Rozas last week, Lopetegui urged them to forget it and focus on the World Cup qualifier Macedonia instead. With that game won, the message is different now.
Lopetegui described it as an “honour and a pleasure” to meet England at a stadium that is “hard to match”, insisting: “The team and the stage will oblige us to produce a great performance.”
Answering in English, he also said that England have improved under Gareth Southgate and agreed that there are certain parallels between the two men, who have coached their countries at under-21 level. “I think the England team is improving; they [are] show[ing] different skills in [the] offensive phase and I think they’re trying to work on that: that’s my impression,” Lopetegui said. “I think he is doing a very good job and I wish him the best. England are a good team in very good form and they have good players.”