The left-back, Jose Gaia, will be unable to participate with the Spain national team in the finals of the World Cup in Qatar, which start tomorrow, Sunday, after being excluded from the squad in Doha due to a right ankle injury, according to reports from the Spanish federation, who replaced him with young Barcelona player Alex Balde.
“The winger leaves Qatar with love, respect and appreciation from his teammates and the entire Spanish Football Federation,” read the Spanish federation’s statement, adding: “Jose Luis Gaia will not be with Spain at the World Cup in Qatar”.
The Valencia full-back suffered a sprained right ankle in training on Wednesday, and the injury was initially believed to be minor and not threaten his participation in the World Cup in Qatar.
However, “after a careful analysis of the situation and continuous consultations with the medical services of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Enrique has taken the decision to replace the Valencia full-back, who was injured during Wednesday afternoon training in Oman.”
Subsequently, the Spanish FA stated that “after confirming the absence of José Luis Gaia due to injury, the coaching staff has decided to replace him with Alex Balde … Luis Enrique has taken into account his brilliance at the start of the season.”
Gaia missed the last preparation match that coach Luis Enrique’s team played against Jordan in Amman on Thursday (3-1) before going directly to Doha.
His replacement Balde (19) was with the Under-21 national team, who concluded his commitments this year against Japan on Friday evening in Seville.
By joining the first team for the first time in his career, Baldi takes the number of Barcelona players in Spain’s squad for the Qatar World Cup to eight.
The news of Gaia’s exclusion and Baldi’s replacement comes five days before Spain’s first match in the Qatar finals against Costa Rica, in group E, which includes Germany and Japan.
Any team has the right to change the 26-man squad for the finals 24 hours before the date of the first match.
