Details: Spain sends home “emergency national team”

It was at the beginning of the week that Sergio Busquets tested positive for covid-19. The player was quarantined and days later Leeds defender Diego Llorente also tested positive.

One consequence of this was that Spain called in players who were placed in a “reserve bubble” where they would train and get ready if they were needed in the European Championship squad. Six players joined and later that bubble was filled with 11 players from the U21 national team.

Now the Spanish AP reports that all 17 players have been sent home. This after the Spanish squad was vaccinated.

According to the AP, the regular European Championship squad stood in two lines and applauded the players who left.

At the same time, the Spanish European Championship team trained together on Saturday. It was the first time this week before Monday’s European Championship premiere against Sweden.

Llorente, who previously tested positive, now has four straight negative tests, and was able to rejoin the squad. Busquets, on the other hand, remains in a ten-day quarantine and misses the Sweden match.

After the news that Dejan Kulusevski and Mattias Svanberg tested positive, Sweden also called in an “emergency national team”. Jacob Rinne (goalkeeper), Mattias Johansson, Joakim Nilsson, Niklas Hult (defenders), Jesper Karlsson (midfielder / forward) and Isaac Kiese Thelin (forward) joined Gothenburg where they train on their own – completely isolated from the EC squad. The group is led by U21 national team captain Poya Asbaghi.

Sweden will face Spain on Monday at 21.00.

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