Late Spain injury hands decision to Luis de la Fuente ahead of Euro 2024 debut against Croatia

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has suffered a setback two days ahead of their debut at Euro 2024, after Aymeric Laporte missed training with a muscle problem. The Al-Nassr defender has been a regular for de la Fuente since his arrival but he will now have to make a call on his potential replacement against Croatia.

Real Sociedad defender Robin Le Normand is likely to be partnered by one of Nacho Fernandez or Dani Vivian, given the former has also been a fixture for La Roja under de la Fuente. Nacho has not been in a Spain squad since de la Fuente’s first call-up, but Relevo say that he will likely start ahead of Vivian, due to his experience, form and fitness coming off the back of a Champions League triumph. Laporte will travel to Berlin with the team, and is not ruled out, but it would be a surprise if he was risked.

Certainly Nacho seems to be the safe option for de la Fuente. There is the benefit that he will also be familiar with Dani Carvajal at club level, whereas Alejandro Grimaldo is a relative novice for Spain. Vivian has rarely played with any of them, even if the Basque defender has enjoyed probably the best season of any of the central defenders.

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